Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak (Wine Barrel)

Brewed by Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: Porter
Pleasantville, New York USA

Bottle (750ml) shared with HogTownHarry, garthicus, GregClow, jerc & mabel -- c/o HogTown Harry. Batch 2. Pours a deep dark brown with some red hues and an average size frothy light-brown head. Aroma is lightly sour with some red wine qualities, slightly roasty, yeasty and with some wood and smoke. Flavour of lightly roasted malt, some chocolate, red wine -- a bit funky even. Medium bodied, tart mouthfeel. Very good.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown almost black color with a small tan head. Has a roasted malty licorice and chocolate aroma. Roasted malty slighlty sour chocolate and licorice flavor. Has a roasted malty fruity chocolate finish.

A whole lot of wine in the nose, with some vanilla and the smokey oak. Flavor is woody and sour, with a lingering smokiness that I really enjoy.

Bottle thanks to Eric. Handled carefully, a bit of gushing. Pours a dark brown color with a light brown head. The aroma is vinous, sour oak notes and some light roasted aromas also. The flavor was dominated by a sour, almost vinegar like flavor, some oak barrel, light roasted flavors and chocolate. Like a Flemish Red almost, but I wonder about infection. Nobody liked it but me, and I think it was way off.

Houston, we have a gusher! Did not expect this and I don’t remember any of the other ones foaming like this. Instantly upon opening the foam started to rise right out of the top of the bottle. Not violently but at a pretty good pace. Once poured it continued to rise and the head is now protruding a full 1 inch or more above the rim of the glass. Very dense and creamy. Kicked up a mess load of sediment also. Strong port wine notes in the aroma. Dark grapes, some acidic funkyness (maybe a bit infected), roasted grains, wet rad oak and a pretty strong sourness. Color is a very dark brown. Hmm, the porter aspects of this have really dimished and has been replaced by sourness. Some roasteyness and chocolate malts but they are in the background. More vinuous notes and oak. Finishes tart and oaky with a bit of raisin. Pretty sure this is not the way the brewer wanted this to turn out.

Bottle at Club-tasting. Black - offwhite head. Burned, light sourness, cardbord, mineral water, rubber, candy, brett, old cask, leather, high carbonation. Far too sour !!!

Batch two, thanks to HogTownHarry. Appearance Deep deep ruby red almost black. Large pancake mix colour head. Aroma: Red wine, leather, yeast, spices, sour. Flavour: Wow - coffee, wine almost lambic like, lots of tartness, long porterlike finish.

Bottle (22oz). Shared with blankboy, garthicus, gregclow, jerc and mabel via trade with glouglouburp. Gusher. Deep reddish-black pour, huge light brown lasting frothy head. Sour, vinous aroma, wood resin and tart fruit malt - funky/yeasty and dry. Taste follows, the oak resin and tannin character is much more up-front, sour dry finish, leathery - totally a merlot feel to it. Average body, astringent and acidic, long sour finish with a woody aftertaste - nice, a little intense.