Astraea
Dimensional Brewing Company

insane bottle, i feel lucky to have been a part of drinking it, love the double barrel treatment, rye and then calvados, cool packaging, shockingly dark beer, black barleywine as far as i am concerned, darker than most of these get, very minimal carbonation it appears, thick and leggy, some shine at first, light murk at the bottom of the bottle but nothing problematic. definitely some roast in the nose, a lot of sugar, and heaps of booze too, this could spend more time in the bottle mellowing out, some heat here for sure. i smell both the barrels, sweet vanilla and earthy cereal from the rye, a caramel thing there too, lots of wood, and the sweeter cooked apple character, some raisin type sweetness with the richer malt. dark bread, espresso, prune, toffee. tons of sweetness the whole way, riding the oak and all the body, the booze cuts it some but it seem to enhance it at the end. a leathery density to this, brown sugar, tobacco leaf, fig jam. the booze is a lot, especially through the back half, distracting but its not out of place in this. the darker malt isnt as intense as it appears, still all full of middle layers and without roasty bitterness. light yeast character, maple, permanent marker, black licorice, bran muffin, cola, and the neat fruity calvados kicking up as it sits. impressive use of both barrels in a beer that seems real cohesive to me for having so much going on. im excited about dimensional now too, they are doing a lot of things well. i dont need more bubbles or less body or anything, this was always going to be a small doses beer and the pace and long linger is fine, especially in the middle of winter. well done, sure to age gracefully!

500ml bottle with black wax and glitter stars adorning the wax seal. The label looks incredible & is visually stunning.

beer is poured into Durobar Charente glass.

Appearance: Very stout like in appearance. When pouring you can tell it's a very dark brown color, but once it's in the glass it's as dark as night. Thin cap of head that dissipates to no head at all.

Smell: Caramel and raisins with hints of leather & rye whiskey.

Taste: This is very sweet and rich, but doesn't get cloyingly sweet. It opens up with caramel soaked raisins with a hint of milk chocolate. Hint of smoke & leather with a very smooth spirit presence. I taste the rye whiskey as a stronger flavor here for barrel presence.

Mouthfeel: Full bodied beer with low & adequate carbonation. Thick thick motor oil textured body.

Overall: This is high quality barrel aged beer from Dimensional's barrel program. Really incredible. It's small batch barrel program magic.