Tonight At Noon - Barrel Blend
Interboro Spirits and Ales

Modest head production, quickly fading. Not surprising for a big BA stout.

Big, boozy aroma, full of oak and red wine notes. Gives a hint of bourbon, but that's possibly due to the high ABV plus the oak and wine. Brown sugar, caramel, and molasses.

An interesting blend of flavors on the palate, starting with dark chocolate, red wine, oak, burnt coffee, and brown sugar. Mid-palate, it evens out a bit, with red wine lingering and a touch of spirits. Nutty finish with noticeable char.

Some back-end heat. Big and boozy, and fully appropriate for the style and ABV. Overall, a very enjoyable beer.

26 May 2020 - Beer #104

Corona Day #75

Price: $13.00 at the brewery

Appearance: 5 - black black. Not much head, but the lacing is fabulous.

Nose: 4 - definitely plenty of barrel. Something very fruity in there.

Taste: 4 - maybe slightly infected, but it's not unpleasant at all. Fruity, maybe a bit acidic. Bubblier than it should be.

Mouth: 4 - somewhat thin, but very bubbly.

Overall: 4 - this is definitely not what they were going for, but it's still pretty good and very interesting.

Stay safe out there, my friends.

Cheers!

This is the one year red wine barrel aged version, 12% abv. Appearance is jet black but looks thin and a little fizzy with short lived cola-like head. That cola element is also evident in the flavor and somewhat in the feel; its thin and a little fizzy but not egregiously so. Feels lively but a little lightweight.

Wine barrel influence is substantial, you get the fruit, tannins and oak with secondary roast/char characteristics. Lightly sweet but mostly finishing dry.

I enjoy wine barrel aged stouts as a welcome and infrequently encountered change of pace. This was decent, and mostly enjoyable but ultimately a little thin and overwhelmed by the barrel treatment so the lasting impression was unharmonious.

 

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a short tan colored head that left patches of bubbles on the surface and a collar around the edge of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of red wine are present in the nose - as the beer begins to warm up notes of chocolate start to become noticeable.
T: The taste has moderate to strong flavors of red wine from the barrel aging along with hints of chocolate and dark malts. There is a light amount of bitterness.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: This beer tastes more like a red wine than it does a stout, but it is easy to drink and does a very good job at masking the alcohol from the taste.

Serving type: can

 

 

 

I wanted to like this collab between Interboro and Pipeworks as I think both of them have made some fabulous beers that I've been lucky enough to get my hands on. While this wasn't a drain pour, this had an odd taste and a *very* thin consistency to it that wasn't fitting for a Russian Imperial Stout. It was a welcome change from the IPA's that I'm used to from these guys, but there wasn't much of any heft outside of the amount of alcohol that was present...

Of course, the pour to this was dark - root beer-like with a mocha head full of big bubbles that quickly, and loudly, settled down. No lacing could be seen on the side of my pint glass as I worked my way through this and there was quite a bit of sediment at the bottom of the liquid too, but that was probably more to do with me than the way this was crafted. Milk and bitter chocolate, cherry, and booze filled the subdued nose as the taste featured all of those as well. Licorice, nuts, and red wine filled my palate as I sipped this but seriously, how many Russian Imperial Stouts have those flavors in their profile? The roast wheat gave this a mild burnt feel and plenty of body but this just seemed too odd to me to ever fully catch on...

Of course, this was plenty strong but that was a detraction as this went down *too* easily for a beer of this sort. This had a date of 10/4 from last year with "LIFE AFTER DARK" written above it but even if I had this fresh, I doubt that I would have warmed up to it (no pun intended). A rare misfire from both parties involved - at least the label was worth holding onto...

 

 

Pours a bit too thin, a relatively see-through brown. Smell is dark fruits and hot. Taste is similar, that's very shallow. There is really no richness here at all. It tastes thin boozy. Really not what I am looking for in a stout.

 

Slick black with a loud, fizzy tan head that just wants to die quickly, leaving nothing but a faint thin ring.

Smell is fusil with faint accents of botanical evergreen and cedar, as well as sassafras, cola and molasses, and a slight hint of cocoa dusted almond and roasted malt.

Taste is boozy, almost like it's been aged in spirit barrels, botanical almost, so closer to gin than anything else. Other flavors of cola, sassafras, licorice and light pine pop in, with some mixed nuts. There are no real classic properties of a Stout at all, but there are some metallic red fruits and coffee liqueur notes in the swallow.

At only 10%, this has a similar flavor profile as a Bruery stout, almost like champagne yeast was used. It has a sort of sharp bright alcohol, with a thin feel, a mild, bubbly thin carbonation, finishing semi-dry with a little sting. It's painful to drink on the tongue and throat, and even feels acidic on the teeth.