Dessert Station: Cinnamon Whiskey Barrel Aged Apple Pie
Corporate Ladder Brewing Company

With the flavors of fall never saying die, Corporate Ladder prods along the fall festival with their gluten free sour that boasts apple, cinnamon and whisky for a flavor of autumn in a glass.

A pour of muddy rust and chrome generates a light creme of foam and a boisterous scent of grandma's Thanksgiving kitchen with suggestions of stewed apple, pie crust, fall spices, caramel and nuttiness. A sweeter tone coats the early palate with caramel, corn syrups and praline in a full slather of sweet apple glaze on the tongue.

With that coat of sticky sugars reluctant to release, the middle palate also shares the soothing spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove with the warmth of whisky adding nuttiness, caramel and vanilla. The tanginess of apples serve to offset the sweetness along with the aid of nuanced lemon and lime acidities. Trending spicy and sweet, the beer reads like a thicker sugar-laden version of apple cider on the later portions of taste.

Full bodied, sugary and soothing, this sipper of a smoothie drink never really registers as a beer but is quite tasty as a alcoholic apple pie fruit punch.