Awesome Jenkins (Apple Brandy Barrel Aged)
Thin Man Brewery

 

 

Seems apple brandy isn’t my thing, but it’s a decent brew.

Pours black with a purple hue and two fingers of dark khaki head that settles fairly quickly into a cap and leaves moderate lacing.

Chocolate and apple brandy in the nose, with a distant hint of vanilla. Maybe a little nougat.

Apple brandy dominates the taste with the base only in a supporting role. There’s some umami, dark chocolate, cherry and vanilla, but they’re restrained and far beneath. Strong alcohol heat.

On the heavy side of medium bodied with some creaminess to it and lively carbonation.

I usually like a heavy handed barrel, but I feel like there’s some depth and complexity to the base that I’m missing here. It’s very tasty, but it feels like there’s a world class beverage lurking somewhere in there and it leaves me wanting greater balance.

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

There's a lot of caramelly sweet and fruity apple brandy barrel on the nose, with dark chocolate, smoke, heavy roast, licorice, and coffee.

The apple brandy imparts a strong flavor, but doesn't dominate - it more helps to paint in between the lines of the very strong base stout. There's oak, vanilla, apple pie spice, and a bit of booziness, with a wet and very present brandy characteristic. There's some nice dark chocolate and coffee character, with a light but pleasant licorice and smoke sort of note.

This is creamy, with a touch of heat, but nothing overwhelming. It's a mostly smooth finish, with a good body to it.

I think I liked the Bourbon BA and the BA PB versions of this beer a little bit better, but this was still very tasty, and absolutely worth a try overall.