Double Deadfall Ale - Old Fashioned
Powderhaus Brewing Company

Review: 2295
Name: Double Deadfall Old Fashion Imperial Ale
Brewery: Powderhaus Brewing
Location: Boise, ID
Style: American Strong Ale
ABV: 11%
Canned: Unknown
Date: Dec 29 2024
Another beer from cellar; working my way to 2300 beers reviewed. I do know this beer is at least four years old. I got this beer when I was working in Boise. I am using a tulip glass and serving it at 46 degrees. The pour created a frothy, creamy, one-fingered, light tan head, with average retention. The somewhat slow dissipation left bits of lacing on the glass. The color is dark brown, with rusty orange hues, charting at SRM 26, and somewhat opaque. The appearance of the beer is average for this style.
Nosing the glass, I smell rum, oranges, whiskey, cherries, wood, char, light char, smokiness, earthiness, tobacco, and herbal notes. Smelling the glass again, I get a faint note of caramel, toffee, raisin, figs, light floral notes.
The first sip revealed a big malty mess. The flavors begin with caramel, oranges, cherries, toffee, figs, raisins, dried orange peel, rum whiskey, herbal, light char, herbal, floral, tobacco, malty sweetness, and earthiness. Sipping the glass, I noticed the bitters used and it created this muddled mess of herbal wierdness. The beer does not have any over-aged notes that would probably help at this point.
The mouthfeel is chewy and thick, finishing sticky sweet. The body is medium-plus and has medium carbonation.
I was expecting something else than what I got. The beer was a malty mess with an identity problem.

750ml bottle from brewery. Aroma is strong with a trace of cherry. Taste is sweet malts, cherry melts away, no sign of orange. Drank side by side with the Mother Earth Old Fashioned. No competition. This is just malty. Disappointment.

Tried on tap at the brewery; served in a snifter.

A: Opaque, dull brown with a small off-khaki head that revives to a small ring with some swirling.

S: Very potent impressions of a boozy Old Fashioned, with lots of rindy citrus peel and oaky booze, with malt character shining through.

T: Solidly delivered Old Fashioned notes, with impressions of citrus rind, bitters, cherry, oak and boozy spirit character.

MF: The oak is extremely drying to the palate, and the mouthfeel is big and somewhat sticky; the booze becomes fatiguing about halfway through the glass.

O: Overall I think Powderhaus nailed this one but it becamore too fatiguing and boozy and dry-ly full of oak character towards the end for me to rate higher. Still, a good offering.

old fashioned version of this one, super strong, intense, and delicious as a fall sipper. its done in rum barrels with cherries and orange peel, and rests on some whiskey soaked oak chips too apparently, a sturdy brew, and a darn good one, although not quite as well refined as some of their other fancy releases. murky deep brick red in the glass without a lot of head from the tap, noticeable viscosity. it smells cherry forward, incredibly alcoholic, with caramelized malt depth and a harvest time earthiness, barleywine-esque to me really, with some zesty character from the orange cutting in with a little acidity and freshness, a needed contrast to the heaviness. the flavor is nice, pretty hot on the booze again, but the orange is clean and comes through nicely, some bitterness from it too, cherries almost have a cocktail vibe, while the grain stays heavy and cooked to me, dense in texture, but not under carbonated for what it is. sweet but not overly so, actually pretty well balanced for what it is, not too much cherry, an almost belgian malt character, dubbel-esque a little bit, heavier than it needs to be, but a nice beer in small doses. a lot of this could get you into trouble. i think these guys remain underappreciated here, like, they always have some super ambitious beers on, bottle some very cool stuff, but yet get very little hype. i am thankful for them and the fact they are willing to produce this kind of stuff!