Oct 26, 2009 Let me explain this brew. First you have to know the ingenious way that the flavors of oak and Port are introduced to the original Kate. Some of the Kate is taken and place in a keg that it filled with port soaked oak spirals. It sits there until they are ready to introduce it to the large batch, thus imparting all the wonderful port and oak goodness to the main batch. Now seeing that Portsmouth is in New England and we are quite frugal they back fill the small keg, and let it sit. Thus producing the double oaked batch of Kate.
Now on to the review; poured into a small snifter it produced a slight tan head that went to nothing, but would come back with a swirl. The color was the typical stout black with light ruby highlights showing off the oak.
The aroma on this batch (09) had a slight lactic smell because of the 7 months of age, but the oak defiantly made a strong showing. Along with the typical roasted coffee and chocolate flavors associated with the original Kate. There was a slight, I mean light sourness to the brew, again from the age I would guess. It did however work well with the strong oak, quality. The alcohol heat associated with the original Kate seems all but lost in this brew. The feel in my mouth was nice and thick, slightly syrupy with good carbonation.
I did enjoy this brew I have tasted this a few times; it is really amazing how the slight difference will change and add to the complexity of this original brew. Its drinkability tended to be a bit higher to me than the regular 09 I had a few weeks back. Defiantly worth the try
Serving type: on-tap
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