What Beer Are You Drinking Now? #4755

Indulge me with a story, BAs.

Over a decade ago, Sierra Nevada announced that they were releasing a barrel aged version of their iconic, seasonal stout, Narwhal, in cork-and-caged 750 ml bottles. Narwhal was already one of my favorite stouts: a beer I drank more than anyone (according to Untappd), and of which I purchased a case every year.

I preferred (and still do) Narwhal with at least a year of age. It's a hoppy stout, and some aging takes away some of that hoppy bitterness, allowing the malts to shine more, revealing glorious notes of chocolate.

Barrel aging Narwhal seemed like such a no-brainer: give the barrel treatment to an amazing, big, bold beer, and at the same time"pre-age" a hoppy beer closer to my personal preference. I can honestly say I was more excited about the release of BA Narwhal than I was about the release of BA Ten-Fidy (and I was very excited about the latter, as well!).

I tell my local beer maven about BA Narwhal. He hadn't heard, but he'd keep an eye out for it. The release drops. My dude sets aside a bottle just for me. I try it.

It's glorious. It's not the greatest beer of all time, but it's exactly what it should be, and all that you could reasonably hope for.

Some BA beers also need time to age: the bourbon is too strong when fresh, and that heat fades a bit as the beer mellows. Not BA Narwhal. Perfectly smooth from a fresh bottle. You could chalk that up to less time spent in the barrels; the can claims, "nearly a year," but an 8-10 month range is an informed estimation. That's not nearly as long as many others (I'd say a year is the minimum for the sweet spot, with both KBS and BCBS supporting that assumption), but it's much more than other BA stouts that clearly show the weakness of the time spent in the barrel (looking at you, 3-month-aged Dragon's Milk). No, BA Narwhal isn't overly harsh, but I attribute that smoothness to the mellowing of the hops and char over the aging process, not to the weakness of the bourbon influence.

Fast forward to today, and BA Narwhal - now in 4-pack 16-ounce can format - remains one of the most reliable BA stouts you can find, when you can find it - and an absolute bargain compared to its competitors. When I find it on the shelves - as I did just a few days ago - I gasp with surprise every time, love at first sight all over again.

Is this beer as amazing and perfect as I'm making it sound? No, not really. This isn't an engineering documentary about perfection and execution; it's a love story, and love isn't perfect.

I love this beer.

Cheers!

 

Unfortunately not that many American breweries dip their toes into Belgian styles, but I heard repeatedly great things about Allagash.

 

Consider yourself lucky you didn’t swallow the bad girl! I think you’re done drinking for a few days, straw or not.