Quarantine Reserve
Cross Keys Brewing Co (CKBC)

 

Picked this up recently at the Bottle King in Morris Plains, as this was the first beer that I ever had from Cross Keys. This appeared to be a beast of a beer from the onset but with a subdued alcoholic presence, this wasn't quite like the other American Imperial Stouts that I've become accustomed to over the years.

Of course, this had a dark pour to it as the liquid was dark like vanilla bean and quite thin. A thin head of mocha topped this off as it wasn't very bubbly and the lacing left behind was sparse aside from a few hints of rings near the middle of my pint glass. A bit of coffee could be seen around the edges of this and some of that could be detected in the nose along with bourbon, sarsaparilla, licorice, vanilla bean, and a hint of barrel-aged booze. The taste followed suit with a bit of caramel stickiness from the bourbon entering the fray. Slick and relatively smooth, a bit of bitter chocolate and coffee bean came through once this fully warmed up but overall, this was about as smooth as a beer of this type could be!

It still packed a punch but amazingly, it was on par with everything else going on as the carbonation was light and malt present, but not particularly noticeable. No date was given on the bottom of the can but this felt fresh as could be as there wasn't any sediment in the liquid at all. While not the best example of the style, this was a nice take on the style that was easily accessible and didn't feel like an Imperial version in the least. This was a good first impression from Cross Keys as it's always refreshing to see another brewery here in Jersey take root. I'll be on the lookout for these guys in the future!

 

 

(16 oz can, courtesy of a generous coworker... poured into my Brasserie D'Achouffe tulip)

dirty black oil in color; dark-er coffee-with-cream colored foam, builds then deflates; can didn't open with much audible pfft... on the nose: dull black licorice base from which other aroma leap off - coconut-vanilla ice cream, burnt wick from a vanilla candle, and so on!; flicker of a fiery heat from the buried booze; malt chub for days... on the palate: chocolate syrup liqueur tainted by ashy roasted cereal grain (coco krispy embers); clearly a vanilla stout jet-spritzed thrice or more with bourbon; malt rich and nectary... plush, milky, lightly-silty texture; roast and ethanol team to ignite an hand-warmer pack-let surface glow; not adequately carbonated, as perhaps evidenced in the tab punch muffle... unexpected definition in its bold blast; could probably have another right now, and would feel just swell presenting as a gift (1714)