Berkshire Julios Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Ale

Brewed by Berkshire Brewing Co.
Style: Scotch Ale
South Deerfield, Massachusetts USA

Thanks Gillard for bringing this one to the tasting. Pours dark cola brown with a khaki head. Nose is bourbon, malt, booze, and hints of caramel, but knocked away by bourbon. Flavor is malt, bourbon, maple, bourbon, brown sugar, alcohol, and sugar cane (sweet and bourbony). Medium-bodied and enjoyable, but lingeringly boozy.

courtesy of gillard pours copper, off white head. Aroma of light wooden barrel and bourbon. Taste, bourbon, malty caramel with warming bourbon palate. Though the bourbon aspect wasn’t overwhelming, it still took away much of the scotch aspects.

Pours garnet into a thistle. Bourbon-soaked banana’s flambe aromas. Tastes like it smells - more like a bourbon weizen upfront. Turning sweet and oaky in the finish.

Tasting at a beerfest [Disclaimer: This was tasted along with many, many other beers during a tasting at Julios. Some of the details are a little hazy]. It’s like drinking carbonated bourbon. Too much for me.

22 oz bottle. Pours a dirty brown color with a small beige head. Nose is all bourbon with traces of wood. Palate is medium bodied with a fair amount of carbonation. Also, quite bitter on the tongue. Taste is malt, wood, smoke with a strong bourbon presence. Sip slowly and enjoy.

22oz bottle, 2007 vintage, courtesy of connecticutpoet, poured into a snifter. Pours a dark, dark brown in the glass that shows hazy caramel brown against light. The head is big, creamy and recedes slowly leaving very good lacing. Hello, bourbon! This one smells much like a bourbon on the rocks. There are caramel malts and toffee underneath especially as it warms, but it’s really, really boozy in the nose. The taste has the same massive bourbon presence but there is some evidence of the underlying beer in the taste. By that, I mean the sweet caramel malts. The wood also comes out with a very smooth, vanilla-sweet finish. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and more carbonation than you normally get with a bourbon aged beer. I actually think the extra carbonation helps minimize the dominant bourbon character. I was a little taken aback with the nose which was just straight bourbon, but the taste is really fantastic on this one. One of the better tasting Scotch ales I’ve had in recent memory. I can’t wait to compare and contrast with the 2009 bottle. Thanks again Darren!

Not a bad beer, but not for me. Pours a murky black, looks very much like soda. Aroma is a nice mix of bourbon, vanilla, and candied sugar. Flavor is dominated by bourbon, but there are nice hints of wood, toffee, and vanilla. Most of the Scotch Ale seems to get lost. Thin on the palate. Lots of people at the tasting really liked this, but it just was not my thing.

Brown with a thin off white head. Aroma is bourbon, caramel, coca-cola, light toffee. Taste is a nice caramel, bourbon/scotch blend, light alcohol. Interesting and nice depth and complexity. Well done.