Coast Range Farmhouse Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter

Formerly brewed at Coast Range Brewing Co.
Style: Porter
Gilroy, California USA

The aroma is smooth bourbon. OK, there may be some oak. Very smooth aroma. Opaque brown color with no head. It starts creamy smooth, virtually no carbonation, and the flavor takes a mo to develop. The flavor is mysterious. The mouthfeel is medium. There is coffee, some chocolate, some reddish dark fruit, and always some bourbonish alcohol. There’s always a bit of sweet, always a bit of toasted malt, always a bit of hop bitter. As it warms, some vanilla comes forth. Finishes a bit dry. Quite a complex thing. At points it is reminiscent of S. Adams Triple Bock, but not the maple parts.

Bottle. Agree with Dave below- the plastic tie was a bitch. Rich dark mahogony with no head. Bourbon aroma with vanilla and oak - doesn’t completely overpower, but lets you know what its been aged in. No carbonation. Sweet caramel malt with lots of bourbon character - vanilla, oak, chocolate. Would be better if carbonated. Slight oxidation. It ended up egtting the second half dumped out - I just couldn’t deal with the lack of carbonation. If you’re going to have trouble and then add those plastic ties on top of it then get rid of the fancy bottle and stick with your regular bottling methods. note to delf: No swing tops from Famhouse to go along with never buying another bottle from Island (damn infection problems).

0.5L bottle purchased at Monument’s Wine and Spirits in C-town (Concord, CA) more than six months ago. When I bought it I noticed there were only 12 ratings. With this rating now only 13. Wow.

It pours out of the swing top bottle almost still with black body. The nose has lots of oak barrel notes and bourbon and is short on the base beer (Porter) getting through. Maybe some faint roasted malts deep in the under brush are just noticed. The taste is much like the nose with bourbon booze boozy sweetness and oak. Some mild tart tannins show though before a brief moment of base beer roasted malts can just be sensed before boozy barrel notes take it to the finish. If I didn’t know the style of the base beer I could never have been able to tell by the aroma or flavor.

Bottle; nose of woody coffee, and grapes; brown with a ring of bubbles (FLAT); merlot wine flavored with some coffee, bourbon, and an alcohol finish.

500 ml bottle, via STEPHENDR. Pours a clear very dark brown colored body under a two finger foamy brown head that slowly settled to a thin film leaving lots of lacing. The aroma is a mix of heavy bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, roast, and light alcohol. The flavor is clearly bourbon dominated with a slightly astringent burnt malt and anise laced finish. The alcohol is alot more noticable than the regular version. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a slightly sticky cloying texture on the finish. The active fizzy carbonation is a little distracting. Didn’t have the carbonation issue that alot of the previous ratings have noted, maybe even a bit too much, but this was pretty harsh and tough to finish. This just needs the bourbon toned down a few notches and then you might have something really nice.

Bottle. Dark brown to black color with a minimal brown head. Strong bourbon / scotch aroma with bandaids and vanilla. Less of the toasted malt porter elements in the nose than the alcohol and bouron. Smooth and chocolaty flavor with an alcohol finish.

Courtesy of IrishBoy. Thank you, Richard. Pours very still and lifeless from its flip-top bottle. Dark brown with no head at all save a few die hard bubbles that look like the two or three guys trying to get the wave started in a stadium full of crochety old men. It’s just not happening. Aroma is chocolate, bourbon, massive band-aid notes and a sort of medicinal/chemical note. It doesn’t taste nearly as bad as it smells, but these flip tops have not kept it very well carbonated. Chocolate, oak, bourbon, some fairly strong lactic notes and a dark fruit mash finish. It’s not all that bad tasting, but it is nearly completely flat. Nice thickness to it though.

Opaque with no head. Aroma is chocolate, roasty, oak, light bourban. Taste is toffee, cabernet, roasty. Low carbonation.