Captain Lawrence Nor’ Easter Winter Warmer

Brewed by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Pleasantville, New York USA

(750ml bottle, batch 1) Pours a dark brown body with a moderate tan head. Aroma of bourbon, chocolate, toffee, goji berries, and blueberries. Flavor of bourbon, caramel, vanilla, chocolate, and wood.

Bottle shared by Crosling. Poured a nice deep brown/black color with a thin tan head that settled to a ring. Aroma of chocolate and sweet, fruity berries. Flavor consists of smooth chocolate, slight bourbon, vanilla, and a smooth berry finish to round out the beer. Super smooth, finishes dry. A really, really good beer. Thanks Nick.

Batch 2; Sampled January 2008
Pours with a frothy, initially three-finger thick, pale cocoa tinged, tan colored head that leaves some light lacing on the sides of the glass as it subsides. The beer is quite opaque (even when held up to the light) and is pretty close to being black in color. The aroma has a nice, concentrated fruit note to it that reminds me of rum soaked raisins, a bright, though dried berry note and a bit of estery banana. Underneath this, and in fact contributing to the initially noticed rum note, is a noticeable barrel influence; Aromas of vanillin, spicy wood, butterscotch-like oak and a finish of light bourbon notes are all noticeable, but at a really nice level. Unlike so many Bourbon barrel aged beers the brewer has kept the barrel notes at a secondary, almost subtle level here, though it does contribute lots of aromatics to the nose of this brew. Much of the fruitiness and some subtle spiciness (made more subtle by the more noticeable barrel notes) seems contributed by a Belgian-type yeast strain.

Sweet, fruity flavors greet my taste buds up front. The beer is actually a bit lighter in heft than the fruitiness might suggest; this definitely is a rich sipping brew though. A soft, almost velvety, creaminess accompanies the up front sweetness and continues to envelope the mouth as the beer passes through. A light, tickle of carbonation provides some structure, but does not disrupt the creaminess. Fruit flavors of prunes, raisins, and concentrated berries yield to soft oak notes of vanillin and buttery oak. More towards the finish the spicy oak character and subtle Bourbon notes provide a bit of a bite and a touch of warming character. For how dark this brew is, it has an awful small amount of roast character; it makes me wonder if much of the color came from the elderberries. Still there is some roasty notes in the finish that contribute a touch of chalky, dark grain astringency, notes of deeply toasted bread crust and even some burnt grain acidity. Perhaps a lot of the otherwise easily noticed dark grain character is just well balanced / hidden by the sweet fruit notes and barrel character.

Interestingly, when I suck in a lot of air after taking a sip I really get a strong, warming alcohol note, not unlike straight Bourbon. As the brew warms up a bit (coinciding with my second pour of this brew) from it’s initial 60°F / 15°C, the oak character becomes more noticeable; strangely, or not so considering Bourbon gets most of its flavor from oak, the Bourbon character does not become more pronounced. Still the barrel notes are held well in check by the other flavor notes that are happening in this beer. Upon further reflection though, I think that it was the piquant sweetness that has become tempered, and not the jump in barrel flavors; the sweetness is not quit so much now, even if it was never cloying, instead the beer is much more integrated, mellow somehow and just plain harmonious.

What I really like about this brew is that the Bourbon barrel was really held in check; it provides noticeable character to both the aroma and flavor, but I don’t feel like it drown out any of the base beer’s character (which is certainly the case with 90% of the barrel / oak beers being made right now). The sweetness without the bourbon / oak character would more than likely be overwhelming and detracting, but as couple here with the Bourbon and oak notes it provides a nice balance that really keeps the barrel flavors from becoming too obtrusive and overwhelming. This was a very good beer in the first, cooler pour, but once it warmed up it has become much more harmonious, more balanced and really just a great drinking experience; the fact that I drank a full 750ml bottle of this brew definitely improved the overall experience.

[1047-20080112] Bottle (c/o HogTownHarry, w/ him, garthicus, jerc, mds, Radek Kliber). Roasted lightly boozy fruit aroma, barrel-aging is apparent. Black brown body with a medium-lasting creamy light tan head. Intensely roasted alcohol raisin flavour has hints of fig. Full body. Big flavours.

Batch 1 in trade from hophead75. Whoa is this darkly fruity, almost on the verge of sour. Ashen and woody at the same time, with some astringency from wood (mostly, it seems) plus bourbon. Mellow bitterness. Smooth as hell in the mouth - practically thick (reminds me of Central Waters Bourbon special whatever stout...). Maintains effervesence, though. -- whoops, second half of the bottle gets very sludgy. A point off here and there...

That is one thing about the Captain Lawrence beers - their body is just plain amazing, never even remotely thin, perfectly carbonated for the style. Spritziness of the body reminds me of Siletz’s Winter Warmer, but this is far heftier.

Smells highly woodsy and with sweet bourbon tingling your nose. Dark malts and ripe fruit are all over this thing. This is a strong beer. It screams for a variety of cheeses -- I’m heading to the fridge right now to try some aged cheddar.

750 ml bottle shared with Padrefan98. Dark pour with a decent head. Aromas were malty vanilla. Some wood and dark fruits. Flavors were similar with a touch of bourbon and sweetness. Hints of alcohol too. Very good.

Bottle shared by Robert at SL (and one in-hand from jjpm74 too). Pour was deep brown w/ some red hues, head under control (especially for this brewer!), somewhat light actually. The aroma and flavor were wonderfully complex, vanilla, bourbon, berries (all combining like a sweet liquor or something), molasses, dusty chocolate cocoa, brown sugar, raisins, caramel, light oak, vinous, faint roasty and yeasty bitter elements (particularly in the flavor finish), dried fruits too. One of the more busy beers I’ve had for both aroma and flavor, tons going on, always seeming like more was to be found. The mouthfeel was sticky and somewhat syrupey at times, too much for consuming an entire bottle by self. Another nice CL experience, and thanks to Robert (and John)!

750mL bottle. Pours a very dark brown/ruby with a thin tan rim. Aroma is vinous, dark fruit, spice, wood, dark sweet malts. Flavors are chocolate, caramel, wood, spice, dark fruit, maybe some molasses and vanilla. A warming whisky-like finish.