Kentucky Tequila Barrel Wheat
Alltech's Lexington Brewing and Distilling Co.

 

 

Another tequila BA beer? Sign me up. I like the idea of barrel aging a wheat beer, seems unnecessary but we'll see

Pours a clear dark gold with a finger of white head that reduces to a cap and leaves no lacing

The nose starts off with an interesting mix of wheat and oak, with a sweet tequila character holding it together. I'd be willing to bet these barrels housed anejo tequila, as I pick up rich vanilla and even mild chocolate notes. The lime is subtle in the nose. Not exactly what I was expecting in a wheat ale, but it still smells intriguing, to say the least

The flavor unfortunately loses me a little bit, but it's still not bad. It starts off with very subtle lime, but turns into a nondescript tequila and malt character, almost like there's too much going on at once. It gets caramel-ish and a bit smokey towards the end, which actually saves this from being a complete disaster, as it would be undrinkable without it

Light-medium bodied with moderate carbonation, this drinks smooth at the very least, which is another saving grace for this beer. It finishes just short of dry and a touch sweet

Overall this one was kinda weird, just all over the place. It was a bit too sweet for my liking, but not an objectively bad beer. One I'd likely pass on in the future

Next up. a short break. Not from Bottles (!), but from Tavour. I am taking a break from The CANQuest (tm) to run through some Bottles (gasp!). It needed to be done & this will pave the way for a massive return to CANs when I'm done. This one was purchased at the Friendly Greek Bottle Shop (FGBS) shortly before the quarantine began.

From the Bottle: "Hops: Fuggles & East Kent Goldings"; "Tasting Notes: Light Wheat, Key Lime, Agave, Oak"; "Lime Ale Aged in Tequila Barrels"; "The Beer of Bourbon Country"; "Est. 1999"; "American Wheat Ale with Natural Lime Flavor, and Aged in Oak Tequila Barrels".

I Pop!ped the cap & while I started with a heavy-handed pour, I realized that it was coming out rather clear & that there were no lees visible on the kick/punt. I quickly backed off to a slow, gentle C-Line pour, allowing it to form just over two fingers of fizzy, foamy, rocky, bone-white head with moderate retention. Color was Deep-Amber/Light-Copper to Copper (SRM = > 13, < 17) with NE-quality clarity (!), which was problematic in a Wheat-based Ale. Nose was undeniably tequila & lime! Mmm.

I was never one for salt & lime shots, but when I was getting ready to open my bomber of Copper Kettle Sobremesa, I laid in a small 200-ml bottle of 1800 Tequila (Silver) & since I did not drink the entirety of its contents, I had a dram as an accompaniment to the beer.

Mouthfeel was medium. The taste opened with a pronounced lime flavor, along with a subtle wheatiness. Slowly, it blossomed into a caramel-like char before the tequila fully emerged. Mmm. This is one of those beers where you had best like the taste of liquor. It really was not an American Pale Wheat Ale, despite that being its base. Filtration is allowed, but here, it left only a trace of wheat flavor. Instead, warming, I really began to taste its barrel-aging.

Time for a sip of liquor! This was 100% Agave & it dovetailed beautifully with the beer. It did not have the intense burn of rotgut, plus it allowed me to better appreciate the flavor of the beer.

Back to the beer. Having gotten a taste of tequila, it was (almost) tough to tell where it ended & the beer began or vice versa. Almost because the lime remained easily identifiable as did that slight sweetness that was undoubtedly from the barrel's char. I'd be very curious as to which brand & style of tequila was used. Finish was very dry, but how could it be anything else? This was a real treat on yet another shut-in, isolated evening in home quarantine. I can envision buying another bottle of this once the quarantine ends. YMMV.

 

 

 

1st beer by this company in which I was disappointed in. The smell was very skunky followed by limes and Jose Cuervo. The taste was also Jose Cuervo but being it's a Kentucky brewery I'd suspect they got El Torro barrels from Sazarac Buffalo Trace. So maybe if they used a good tequila barrel such as Lunazel this beer could've been better as you can tell it sat in barrels of a piss pour tequila such as El Torro or Cuervo.

 

 

 

 

Poured from 12 oz bottle into tasting glass. A thin white head drops quickly. Color is deep gold. Aroma of agave/tequila, citrus and wheat. Mouthfeel is medium. Flavors of lime, wheat, butter, and a sourness. Overall: decent.

 

 

 

 

 

Lexington Brewing Co. "Kentucky Tequila Barrel Wheat"
12 fl oz brown glass bottle without production codes or freshness dating
$4.49 @ Total Wine & More, Cherry Hill, NJ

Look: Clear deep-gold body beneath a short head of white foam. Average-plus head retention and lacing which is common in barrel-aged beers.

Smell: Tequila. lime, grainy malt, wood.

Taste: Grainy malt, Tequila, lime, wood, and a little bit of butter - what's there is good, and quite clear in what it is, as well as nicely balanced by a median bitterness.

Feel: Medium bodied and refreshingly crisp.

Overall: For what it is I can't imagine finding a better example. The base beer itself is somewhat basic but I wouldn't expect anything else - would a stout work with the Tequila and lime, or would they be covered over? As it is here, everything comes through clearly and works together nicely. The buttery note is unusual, and I wonder if that's intentional of just something that cam out of some of the barrels due to a little diacetyl production. Also, I'm not sure why it needed to be so strong at 7.5% but it doesn't bother me. Maybe that's what was needed with the malt to balance it (I'm assuming), or maybe they felt that given the cost the consumer would want a 'bigger hit'. In the end I enjoyed this more than a lot of the other Tequila beers I've had.

Review #6,622

I will fully admit to enjoying some of this brewery's weirder, wackier ideas outside of their normal BBA strong ale, so this one was intriguing to me. It's their first beer that I know of utilizing a barrel that isn't bourbon or whiskey, and it's coming hot-off-the-heels of Founders' own tequila barrel ale, Mas Agave. Having had (and really enjoyed) that beer about four weeks ago, I can safely say that my mind is in a good place to treat this with some objectivity when it comes to how it works as its own beer, and how it works against its opposition in the current market, as it were.

Pours a slightly darker-than-expected medium golden color with a thin, non-retentive head that sinks to a quarter-finger in my glass fairly quickly. No lace or legs. The beer is clear enough to see some light carbonation rising from the bottom of the stemware I decanted it into, but other than that, not much is going on here. Meh.

The nose is buttery and sweet with light citrusy elements popping out, which I assume have something to do with the lime addition. I get the diacetyl note from a lot of Alltech's barreled beers, but it's weird to get that with a non-bourbon barrel. I can't tell if it's process related or something they are actually going for. One of the main reasons I don't like their normal BBA strong ale is because it's just a pointless "boilermaker in a bottle" beer with a buttery slickness to it, and that element also comes across here. I'm... not really impressed here. It just seems kinda bland and doesn't pop much.

On the tongue, this is a little better, but not by much. It has some endearing qualities that give it a somewhat "margarita-like" flavor profile, but there's too much focus on wheat-laden buttery-sweet, slick, cloying messiness to really define it as a "good beer." If this were cleaned up a bit, it would probably be quite fun and enjoyable. Like I mentioned before, their Peach Barrel Wheat is well-done despite what a lot of reviews on this (and other) sites say, in my opinion. It's sweet, sure, but there's purpose to that aspect, and it feels like a necessary component that helps get the deep fruitiness across. This should be a lot drier and more thirst-quenching, and it fails at that. It just sits on the tongue and lingers too long. It's definitely kind of a shame because this idea is good, and the tequila barrel does actually feel well-integrated with the lime adjunct flavoring once it warms up (which it did VERY quickly on this insanely-hot day), but it's too little, too late. This is a case of a beer with a fun and intriguing idea not quite getting to the point it needs to in order to become a drinkable and enjoyable experience.