4-Way Stop Aged in White Wine Barrels
Jughandle Brewing

Jughandle Brewing Co. "4-Way Stop Aged in White Wine Barrels"
500 ml brown glass bottle, capped and waxed, "BOTTLED 11/28/2017" and sampled on 03/29/2018
$10.99 @ Roger Wilco, Pennsauken, NJ

Notes via stream of consciousness: A careful pour brings up a mostly clear deep amber body with orange highlights beneath a finger-thick head of foamy off-white. The aroma is fruity, vinous, malty, oaky, funky, and earthy. It's pretty enticing. The flavor is less vinous, funky, and oaky than you'd expect given the aroma, probably because of the large amount of sweet and caramelish malt that's there. All of those initial notes remain though, but you have to find them in the mix, they don't pop out at you - well, maybe some of the vinous and oaky notes. There's some alcohol as well, but that's not surprising at 12%. Interesting. I initially thought it would be sharp and funky but it's actually much more like the listed "Belgian-style Quad Ale" with those aspects backing it up. It's complex, and yet it's really cut and dried at the same time if that makes any sense. It's not too rich or full or complicated. It's also interesting because although it was aged in white wine barrels mainly what I'm finding are red grapes, and raisins which are usually found in a quadrupel anyway. In the mouth it's medium-full in body and creamy smooth with a moderate, fine-bubbled carbonation. Supple and smooth. The head has dropped and the lacing's not that great, but that's to be expected of strong beers, although this one does have a lot of residual sugars left. On that note, it's not that bitter, or at least it doesn't seem to be, yet it still finishes dry for the most part as a splash of alcohol and a touch of drying oak help the malt to recede from the palate quickly, leaving just some herbal notes and a tiny bit of dark fruitiness left behind. As a Belgian-style quadrupel ale I'd say it's an absolute winner, but if you look at it from the other side, expecting more from the barrel aging and so forth you might be a touch disappointed. Was it worth the $10.99? Well yes, in a way, and then again, no - I could have spent that on a Westvleteren 12 - but I probably shouldn't go there, a comparison like that doesn't really work in a review. Price-wise I've spent more on American made beers that have come up way shorter than this so let's just go with that. Overall it's an excellent beer to sit down and relax with. Right now I've got a Mozart piano quartet playing but I could just as easily be reading a book, just warming my toes before the fire, or even watching TV. I'd even suggest that it could pair well with a nice meal given the proper pairings and surroundings. I was originally going to give it a 4 for taste but as it's warmed and opened up and I've had more of it I think I'll move that up to a 4.25, above everyone else who's reviewed it on BA so far. I'm impressed and I'll look for more from Jughandle.