Troegenator - Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Tröegs Brewing Company

 

Delicious! Nice sweet boozines to it. Some vanilla and coconut underlying flavors. Maybe a tiny bit less bodied than I expected as it finishes going down but overall really good.

 

 

Pours a nice dark amber color with a slight head and lacing
Aroma has Bourbon, caramel and fruit hints
The taste follows the aroma with a nicely balanced Bourbon, caramel and fruity flavor
A medium bodied well carbonated beer
A well balanced Barrel Aged Doppelbock

Appearance:
Murky, chestnut brown with no trace of head nor lace. Sure, it fizzes up like cola but that fizz vanishes faster than a congressman’s credibility. Looks alarmingly like A&W root beer.

Bouquet:
Thick, chewy chocolate inundated with malted vanilla sits under a shroud dark molasses and black licorice. At the tail end, the aroma reveals a mist of cold bourbon.

Feel:
A surprisingly sinuous medium with a fleeting, viscous caress at the mid-point. Secretive carbonation chatters softly in the distance.

Taste:
Presents an elegant profile of deeply malted crème’ brûlée, coated with milk chocolate syrup. A sturdy foundation of oak infused with vanilla sets the stage for a long-lingered lullaby of sticky sweet bourbon. Then, the distinctive tang of pilsner malts chimes in at the last second.

 

 

 

Picked up a bottle at the brewery. Caramel colored pour with some sticky slickness as it coated the snifter glass like cough syrup. Smell was of bourbon, but also sweet malty goodness. A very drinkable bock, that is smooth for the style yet has complexity. Some maple flavors and sugary candy notes in the finish.

A nice variation of a base beer I also enjoy. Certainly recommend.

 

 

12.7oz bottle poured into a snifter.

A: Deep ruby color with some brown hues. Tan head is short-lived. No real lacing to speak of.

S: Sweet malt aromas greet the nose initially. Portuguese sweet bread, toasted crust, treacle, caramel. Soft oak and sweet bourbon meld pretty seamlessly into all that.

T: Follows the nose. A sweet, malty richness is pervasive. Sweet bread, toast, treacle, caramel. Bit of spicy hop bitterness, quickly. Sweet and corny bourbon camouflages itself inside all the malt. Toasty oak and a bit of peppery bourbon spice ride long on the finish.

M: Hefty, Full, weighty, and coating. Chewy and rich. Firm but gentle carbonation prickles a bit. Slight alcohol warmth. Rib sticking, sustaining feel.

O: Troegenator is just such an obvious choice for the bourbon barrel treatment. I like BBA Imperial Stouts as much as the next guy, but beers like this or a good scotch ale or barleywine just fit better. The rich, sweet and easy malt flavors meld seamlessly with the bourbon, rather than competing with it by bringing some big roasty dimension. It just makes for a more harmonious marriage. This is good, easy drinking for such a big beer. It just feels uncomplicated and straightforward, while still being well polished and delivering a huge amount of flavor and body. One of the more hedonistic bourbon barrel aged beers you’ll find.

375 ml bottle into a pilsner glass. 2018 edition, had 1/31/20.

Pours a medium brown, fairly reddish in the light, cloudy, with a two and a half inch foamy head with good retention and a good amount of foamy lacing. Active carbonation. Aromas of bourbon, caramel, malt, tobacco, some oak. Flavors of bourbon, lighter malt, caramel, some chocolate, some oak, light vanilla and tobacco. Smooth, a very good but lighter feeling medium body, well carbonated.

Great barrels, great aroma, the flavor is very good but feels like it could use more malt. Enjoyable.

2018 bottle. I believe I sat on this long enough and with some break up of the current weather here in Vermont, a bock with some bourbon strength seems like it could do the trick for late Winter.
This was poured into a stemmed lager glass.
The appearance brushed a dark amber to ruddy brown rusty color with a quickly dissipating foamy to bubbly head. Barely any lace.
The aroma had a wonderful blend of sweet red cherries, raisins, dark bread/toast, clean caramel/toffee malt tones, vanilla, light chocolate powder, sweet oak, a whiff of vanilla and some coconut.
The flavor leaned towards the sweet end roaming through the dark fruits, vanilla and chocolate powder with bready flavored caramel tones. Lean aftertaste of bready induced caramel oaky spice edge, light barrel.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Some bourbon heat does appear making this a sipper. Carbonation felt fine. Some smoothness but quaint. Finishes with some sticky malty tones but nothing burdensome.
Overall, I'd say the "Troeganator" is there despite the barrel poking its head out for added complexity. It's mostly balanced and I believe I opened this up at the right time, I think.

 

 

A: The beer is hazy dark brown in color. It poured with no head whatsoever.
S: Moderate to strong aromas of bourbon are present in the nose along with hints of vanilla.
T: The taste follows the smell and has moderately to strong flavors of bourbon from the barrel aging.
M: It feels medium-bodied on the palate and has a low amount of carbonation.
O: I liked the smell and taste of bourbon in this beer but it completely overpowered the underlying beer.

Serving type: bottle