Barrel-Aged Brrrbon, a Winter Warmer by Widmer Brothers Brewing Company (as part of their Brothers' Reserve series)22 ounce (boxed) bomber bottle, served in a snifter. 9.4% alcohol by volume.
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The pour is a clear caramel orange with a thin white head that quickly dissipates. There is only the faintest hint of carbonation.
The first aroma is vanilla extract. The second aroma is bourbon. There is also an undercurrent of creamy butter.
The flavor is all bourbon. As I noted: "The bourbon of the barrels it was aged in is VERY strong on the first quaff. I will now resort to sips, which is probably where I should have started."
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The flavor is mostly bourbon. I was hoping for more than that. The label claims that "soft oak flavors transition into a sweet yet slightly dry finish," none of which I seemed to encounter beneath the barrage of bourbon.
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The finish that lingers (for a long time) is somewhere between bourbon and orange bitters. This is not the initial finish, but the finish that stays and informs for quite some time.
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"Did you know that you just drank a beer that tasted more like hard alcohol and very little like beer? Yes, it tasted something like this. Yes, like this... Like this... This... Not exactly, but, hey, it's a memory, even if a recent one. What did you expect?"
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As it warmed, the bourbon flavor became even more pronounced and too strong for me. I had to pour some of what remained in the snifter's bowl back into the bottle for safekeeping. Next time, I will remember three things: (1) drink it right out of the refrigerator to keep some of the flavor at bay; (2) serve it in the mini-snifter; and (3) sip it.
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This beer is truly one note. Bourbon. And I don't drink enough bourbon to know if this even echoes a good bourbon or not.
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As far as I remember, Barrel-Aged Brrrbon tastes nothing like the Brrr Winter Warmer, upon which it is based. I liked Brrr quite a bit, if memory serves me.
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One interesting note is that this is the third beer in the Brothers' Reserve series. I have also had the first beer, Cherry Oak Doppelbock, which was great. On the side of the box, they mark which of the Widmer brothers, Kurt or Rob, is recommending this beer. Brrrbon is one of Rob's creations, while the Cherry Oak Doppelbock was one of Kurt's. I seem to side with Kurt, as far as (limited) taste goes.
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This bottle cost me $12.99, which I was willing to pay, since I tend to like barrel-aged beers and had a good experience with the Doppelbock. At $9.45 per pint, however, I have to recommend that you spend your money on something else. You'll thank me later.
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