Coast Range Farmhouse Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter

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

500 ml. bottle- color of India ink , small white large head - nose of chocolate (sweet and baking ), coffee , woody , and alcohol – taste of milk chocolate , smoky , vanilla and coco - body is noncarbonated , and creamy – aftertaste is milky and creamy

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.

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.

Bottled. Swing-top secured with a zip-tie (which SUCKED to remove). I have heard this beer has low carbonation but when I opened it, it flew open with a loud pop. I wonder if it may still be fermenting in the bottle(?). Pitch black pour with a frothy tan head. Chocolate malt, coffee, mettalic and vanilla aroma. Very thick mouth feel. Cherries, chocolate, bourbon, astringent and sour. Lingering finish

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.

NorCal tasting Feb 07 - While this is light years better than their Stone Fence garbage, this still was a bit of a mystery to me. I’ve never had a beer with a fresh dill/lactic/sour cream nose AND taste before but this did it. A mineral-like effect on the palate, this was astringent with a whomp of something like it was aged in a pickle barrel, not a bourbon barrel. Strangely though, I liked it somewhat. It was probably infected, which gave the off taste. But I liked it. Not enough to consume mass amounts of it, but it was different.