Drakes 15th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Lager

Formerly brewed at Drakes Brewing Company
Style: European Strong Lager
San Leandro, California USA

Nip, capped and foiled. Thanks, Aspidites! Dark brown with caramel highlights. Light gray swirls but otherwise headless, laceless, still. Gorgeous succulent, caramel, toffee, light fruit notes on the nose. Mild toasty mid-palate. Light finish. Fantastic.

Bottle at after4ever’s tasting. Thanks for sharing this gem.

Paint me an idiot, but I wouldn’t have called it as a lager if I hadn’t know. Sure rocks every other European strong lager I’ve ever had. Pours a deep brown with red tinges, basically no head. Big lovely sweet smooth well-integrated bourbon BA nose, rich caramels like a barleywine yet somehow more straightforward like a bock, some chewy chocolate caramel, very low carbonation on the tongue. Mmmmm...really good, really smooth. Very full on the tongue, no burn, just density from the near 14%. Splendid beer that I’m very happy to have had the chance to have tried

(6oz. bottle) Pours a transparent amber body with a spare off-white head. Aroma of toffee, caramel, bourbon, and vanilla. Flavor of caramel malt, bread, bourbon, and wood.

Thanks to Bu11zeye for this. Poured a reddish brown with off white head, nice retention. Aroma was very malty. Flavor of sweet caramel, very malty, alcohol. Medium body, low carbonation. This does not seem like a lager, more like a barley wine.

Bottle shared by Marcus. Thanks! A little of this goes a long ways. Dark plummy aroma. Brown hazy, sedimenty color with no head. Full bodied with very mild carbonation. Caramel, dark fruit in a light way, mildly warming. Finish is not sweet, but not really bitter. A very good sipper. Good competition for those high % Euro ales.

(Bottle one million thanks to Degarth) Pours a very fancy dark reddish brown with three small bubbles on the top to represent the head. The aroma is strong, vinous, dark fruity, oaky, light burned/roasted and complex with tones of dark caramel, brown sugar, dark syrup, bitter dark chocolate, vanilla, butter, raisins, prunes, black cherries, grapes, apples, rose hip, parsley, brandy, cognac, marzipan and honey. Numbing peppery alcohol warmth is also present. The flavour is very sweet with a sourish sting in the finish that saves it from being cloying. A lot of caramel, dark fruits and oak/bourbon in the flavour as well. Some chocolate and burned nut toffee. The mouthfeel is clean, smooth and light sticky with a mint/peppery and almost numbing alcohol sting. Medium to full bodied. Very nice.

Bought at Ledgers in Berkeley for $14.75! I thought it was $4.75/6oz, which was high, then when I got to the cashier I was surprized. I bought it anyway, being the beer geek that I am. Flat. Cloudy amber color. Sweet. Alcohol well hidden with some caramel sweetness. Very good. I liked it a lot. Had with WeeHeavy, Cyn, and John’s friend.

Beer 8 of Officially the Best Thursday in Beer ever in the existence of my life. Damn small nip bottle Wetherel bought in berkely for a whopping $15 shared with me and my GF Cyn. Pours amber orangish kinda like Apple Cider. Nose is sweet and syrupy and crazy. Taste is sweet, alc is totally hidden. Pretty nice overall taste very interesting, best of the "style" I’ve ever had. Its different and funky and fresh and I like it.