The Old Guard
The Seed: A Living Beer Project

Released on 12/16/2021; consumed on 11/17/2022

Pours a stark mahogany body capped with a finger and a half of near-creamy, pale beige foam; decent head retention leaves a vague cap, large, frothy collar, and a temporary spatter of sizeable webby lacing clinging to the walls of the glass.

Aromas waft raising and plum cordial accented with hints of cherry and prune juice, while heavy bourbon builds alongside a softer cocoa inflection, leaving light vanilla laden with barrel char lingering.

Taste offers lighter raisin and plum upfront, with a milk chocolate underlying and toasty caramel developing from prickly barrel past the mid-palate as stiff bourbon undertones round out the finishing touches.

Mouthfeel brings a medium body and a moderate fluff of carbonation, imparting creamy textures through an almost syrupy slickness; a prodding warmth over the mid-palate guides to a level drying into the back end as edges fade through the finish.

Dark fruits overload to raisin saturation, while the barrel is deft and supportive throughout; a silky culmination of potently rich base and delicate bourbon inflection.

This one pours a fairly dark brown color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like dark fruit, vanilla, chocolate, brown sugar, bourbon, caramel, tobacco, and toffee.

This is quite good. It’s got a soft and not overwhelming dark fruit character, with lots of barrel character – light char, bittersweet vanilla, caramel, and tobacco, with a light touch of oak as well. There’s also boozy breadiness and some toffee as well.

This is medium bodied, with a good creamy drinkability, and basically no booziness.

I’ve wanted to try this one for a while, and it met my expectations. I’m always down for another barrel aged old ale in my life.

Pours a.. unique.. brown color with no head. Tight bubbles ring the glass, but no head develops even with an aggressive pour. Sits an opaque brown, with clear edges in the light. No alcohol legs, which is weird for over 13%. Can’t say I love the look of it, let’s drink it anyway, shall we?

This has huge vanilla notes. Almost like a vanilla panna cotta with stewed fruit on top. As it warms, the vanilla turns into the burned top of a crème brûlée. I’m amazed there is no vanilla in this.

Flavors of rich malts, fruit cocktail, vanilla, oaky coconut, brown bread and pipe tobacco.

Mouthfeel was on the thin side, but with the risk of being too sweet, a slightly reduced boil time was probably wise. This let the barrel shine, and it didn’t disappoint. I don’t think it was a “magic” barrel, but it was still an awesome example of the style.