Drakes Apple Brandy Barrel Olde Ale

Formerly brewed at Drakes Brewing Company
Style: Old Ale
San Leandro, California USA

Bottle from Monument @ Concord. This is starting to turn - but for some reason at this point it still works. Aroma was brett and apples. At this point it’s like a sour light. Flavor is mellow, and you can’t taste any of the alcohol. Flavor is apples, wood, sea foam, and a little maple flavor. Not bad after 3 years.

6oz bottle. Pleasant nose of brett and apple soaked wood. A bot of metallic oxidization, but not overly unpleasant. Pours a thick, muddy brown with a lasting thin khaki head. Fairly woody and dry on the tongue. Brown sugar covered apples, wet oak, alcohol and rounded out with a nice spiciness. The age is starting to show a bit, but still a balanced beer. Medium bodied with spritzy and still lively carbonation. Finishes with a complex mix of brandy, wood, rotting apples and yeast. Interesting! Thanks Joe!

6 oz. bottle, #3 - shared at after4ever’s tasting; wow, another treat to drool over; light brown with thin white head around the edges; alcohol is obvious in the aromas and there is very little sweetness; body is like creamy syrup; great texture and aromas, but flavors just not quite my thing

Nip, capped and foiled. Thanks, IBrew2or3! Dark amber and bright toffee highlights. Headless, laceless, still. Light gray swirl. Basement, CO2, red wine grape nose...somehow, that all comes together and smells pretty good. Light body. Leafy, smokey mid-palate. A bit sharp. Long, lovely earthy finish.

(6 oz. bottle via trade with <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/ViewUser.asp?UserID=3 target=blank>IrishBoy, thanks Richard!) Pours quite murky brown, about the same color as unfiltered sweet cider. About 1/4" or less of light yellowish-biege head retains pretty well. Complex aroma of apples, cinnamon, wood, brown sugar, rum, molasses and brandy. Mouthfeel is a touch thinnish, a bit fizzy, lightly sticky. Flavor is quite hot right upfront with notes of apple, brandy, wood and cinnamon. Flavor not as intriguing as aroma. Unique and kind of tasty but a bit too much burn.

6 oz nip bottle courtesy of alohaC. Brewed in September 2005. Pour is cloudy brown-orange with a tan head that fell quickly. Aroma of BIG Apple Brandy. Underneath that initial apples is the woodiness. Taste is herbal, woodsy, a bunch of green apples and heat. This was very warming, very much like sipping Brandy. As it warms, it picks up a decent full maltiness I didn’t sense at first. The aftertaste features a bit more heat, and some flat cardboard which makes me think this may be a touch past its prime. Not too far past though, this was a good one. Thanks Christian, every beer from that trade has been great.

Clear very red brown body, lasting creamy beige head; Very fresh geuze barrel apple dark roasted nuts brandy aromas; Very full upfront balanced warm body; Very full long very alcohol warm finish with lots of warm brandy barrel aroma late soft vanilla. GREAT!!!

My Bottom Line:
Green herbal, wooden notes and earthy yeast make this unclean Old Ale swerve into horseblanket wilderness while alcohol leaves a long and warming trail. Although this is a fun sipper, its dirtiness and tart barrel leanings sure are puzzling.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-Generous foam slowly settles atop an opaque brownish murk.
-Peripheral chocolate maltiness gets lost in the omnipresence of yeast and barrel.
-This is strangely redolent of an underachieving Jolly Pumpkin creation.
-The base beer ends up being unrefined, the malts definitely lacking definition.
-The finish is simple and directionless. It is not unpleasant by any means, but does not linger nicely or offer any other flavors.
-This could be a case of a beer that is past its prime, but at this gravity, it shouldn’t have changed that much.
-The body is robust but never bulky.

Bottle; thx Jason!