Lion Tamer - Whiskey Barrel-Aged
Ravenna Brewing Co

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a thin khaki head that dissipates to patches with slight lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa, woody oak, whiskey and mile dried dark fruit. Flavor is dark toasted malt with light char, cocoa, vanilla, whiskey, woody oak and a touch of dark dried fruit; whiskey, malt char and light hop bitterness in the finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. Every once in a while the first taste of beer causes ones eyebrows to raise from the taste. In this case it's a beautiful integration of the flavors. I've enjoyed several Lion Tamer variants over the years and they were nice barreled porters, but this one melds together really way. It's hard to parse out the individual flavors at first, although vanilla is definitely one of the more dominant and the whole Is quite a bit more than the individual flavor parts. The vanilla is a clear note, but still fits into the malt and whiskey character well. Very nicely done and I think this porter is improving each year. I'm going to see if I can find another can.