Brewer's Reserve Rye Barrel Chocolate Porter
Central Waters Brewing Co.

 

 

12oz bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Black pour with a beige head. Good retention, wispy rings of lacing.

S: Fatty cocoa nibs, moderate roastiness, quick hint of cherry cola and dark fruit, faint whiff of smoke. Oak and rye whiskey start off subdued, but come out more as it warms.

T: Rye barrel is forward in taste. It brings a fair amount of oak and the familiar sweet and spicy rye in a bold but not hot kind of way. Fatty cocoa nibs show up in big way too, and immediately follow on the tail of the barrel flavors. Hints of roasted malt and smoke are rather subdued. Bit of cola. The barrel flavors never really back down from start to finish, so the ending notes are still rye and oak.

M: Medium-full body. It feels lithe and easy, with a pleasant creaminess. Well carbonated with some moderate scrubbing and lifting action.

O: This is one bold little beer. Not the most complex or balanced beer since the barrel really runs away with the show, but on the other hand it delivers on what it promises and does so with grace. It’s almost criminal how easily it drinks for such a barrel-forward brew. No heat, and no problems coming back sip after sip.

Great body for a porter with exceptional rye barrel coming through. Chocolate presence appropriate and not turning this into a dessert ale. Slight bitterness, boozy, good longevity for the style.

 

 

12oz bottle with 2019 notch and no visible date stamp poured into a tulip glass at just above fridge temp, no ABV listed on label. The beer pours dark brown with limited light penetration and a meager medium brown colored head. The head recedes to a pencil thin ring and leaves no lacing. The aroma is mild and features chocolate, oaky barrel and roasted malt. The taste is a bittersweet tapestry of chocolate, rye whiskey, barrel tannins, roasted malt and coffee, punctuated with a slightly boozy, slightly bitter finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with just less than medium carbonation. The rye whiskey and oaky barrel notes really dry out the finish. Overall, very good to excellent imperial porter.

From a growler, filled yesterday.

Very dark brown, almost black, with slight tan head, that leaves a 1/8" ring.

Smell is chocolate, rye bread, and light whiskey.

Taste is mostly dark chocolate, a light roasted nut flavor, slight bread crust, oak, boozy vanilla, and whiskey . Light rye spiciness , and light bitterness, linger past finish.

Feel is medium, slick, and slightly oily, with light, soft carbonation.Actually seems light for the abv. Very slight internal warming - none on the palate. Alcohol is almost invisible.

Overall , enjoyable and dangerously easy-drinking . Reminds me of aged KBS. The price is nice, too ($7.50/32oz) , making it a good value. I'd get it again.

 

 

 

 

Pours a light fizzy smaller tan colored head that fades quickly and reveals some weird floating brown sludge on top, really weird sludge, especially since it floats on top, that I will remove before continuing... very dark almost black color with a little brown light coming through

After removing the strange protein coagulate, I nose in... lots of whiskey and barrel notes, raw whiskey with some spicy rye notes, sweet candy chocolate, cocoa, some vanilla barrel and toasted oak, a little fudge, some roasted coffee, black roasted malt, a hint of toasted nuts and baking spices

Taste brings rich dark chocolate and cocoa out front, a bit fudgey as well, into toasted nuts, general nutty with mild baking spices, a hint of licorice, some whiskey and alcohol in the middle, not as much whiskey as the nose, with some mild rye whiskey spicy characters, vanilla barrel and a little toasted buttery oak, some dark fruity esters late, a bit of caramel and roasted coffee with the dark roasted malts as well, drier finish, a bit more alcohol and spicy whiskey late, with more fudge and chocolate

Mouth is med to fuller bod, rich but not quite full chewy like, fair tingly alcohol, med foamy carb

Overall pretty nice, once I got past that weird protein coagulate on the top, nice barrel notes, nice chocolate and stout characters, a bit of hot alcohol but it is almost 12%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Had on tap at local beverage center - must admit, was quite boozy and tasted mostly rye. I am a fan of rye, so not utterly disappointed; upon being halfway through my 32 oz vessel, am noticing a considerable change in presence of rye - is nicely subdued, blending well to the overall flavour - the smoothness and sure presence of cacao is more apparent - in a word, yum (dare I say, nirvana - RIP Kurt). Being as I got off tap on 3/15 and it being 3/18, could the beer have settled, accounting for straightforward rye in the first half of drinkage, then more subdued in 2nd half? If so, I think inverting beer once or twice may prove to correct this conondrum. This is not the first time I have encountered this situation, alas - my beer heart weeps (any true aficionado has 2 hearts). In parting, we shall persevere through these most troubling of times with our craft beer banner standing tall above all else - #$@% Inbev!!!