Dragonmead Bourbon Barrel Under the Kilt Wee Heavy

Name: BA Wee Heavy
Date: 08/09/2008
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Great Taste

Appearance: clear dark amber, scant off white head,
Aroma: sweet dark caramel aroma, touch of bourbon,
Flavor: complex sweet bourbon and dark caramel flavor, oak with a slight tartness keeps it balance, touch of hot caramel, light earthy oak,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 14/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: ***/4

2005 draught...and was told more like 8.2%. Deep clear brownish crimson, tan creamy head. At the right temperature, the aromas just opened up into loads of toasted vanilla, oak, bourbon, coconut and caramel, with slight notes of peat smoke shining through late. Up front flavor was certainly vanilla, oak, bourbon, more coconut, and that hint of smoke again, but it rounded out nicely with a slight tangy bitterness. Medium to full bodied, medium carbonation, drying, toasty vanilla, bourbon, oaky finish. This was really nice in my book, and certainly the best one I tasted at DM.....

2003 draught bourbon aged Dark, muddy brown color, with some dark ruddy maroon notes. Yellowish-beige head immediately fizzles away. Aroma is very alcoholic, though I enjoyed it. All of the typical bourbon flavors come out here, and they come out immediately. Alcohol, coconut, wood, grapes, vanilla, lightly smoky malt. It’s over-the-top and unbalanced and just incredibly powerful. They need to either A) make a more powerful beer to handle this or B)take this off the bourbon sooner. Just my two cents. As a side note, I took a growler of this home and drank most of it, but let about a quarter of it sit for a couple weeks just to see what would happen. It was watery and oxidized, of course, but the flavors were pure bourbon and sharp ethanol, further showing the dominance of the barrel. Hopefully the newer releases had a more balanced barrel character. It’s funny to see how novel and great I thought this was at the time, never having tried a barrel aged beer (this was my first one ever). Thinking back on it now, I can remember how horribly over-bourboned this was. Dragonmead’s beers are all highly attenuated to begin with, this being no exception, and I don’t think any of them are well-suited to bourbon aging for extended periods of time (they kept this batch in the barrel for about 6-8 months as I recall).