Flying Fish Bourbon Barrel Dubbel

Brewed by Flying Fish Brewing Company
Style: Abbey Dubbel
Cherry Hill, New Jersey USA

On Draft @ Capones. Pours an opague orange/brown with a small dense light beige head. Aroma of wood, bourbon, spices, fruit, and caramel. The flavor is sweet, spices, fruit, and finishes with an oaken bourbon kick to your mouth. Excellent!!!!

On tap at Capone’s. Murky dark caramel with white frothy edges. Tart woody apples and brown sugar. Medium body with a burst of carb to start. Smooths out with a little plum and dry raisin. Bourbon presence throughout; even though subdued still dominates the rather thin base beer flavors. Tasty though.

On tap at Capone’s. Pours a hazy brownish red with a smaller bubbly/lacing tan head. Aroma of light bourbon, Belgian yeast and spiciness, dark fruits, vanilla, caramel and just a very nice bourbon/dubbel balance. Flavors of dark fruits, bourbon, woody, some vanilla, nuts and sweet malts.

On tap at Capone’s. Poured a deeper cloudy brownish / orangish color with almost no head. Aromas of wood, trace of bourbon, some dark fruits and sugary. Tastes of wood, bourbon (stronger than the aroma but not over powering), dark fruits, vanilla, sugary, and caramel. Trace of alcohol in the finish. Nice.

On tap at General Lafayette’s Winterfest(and at Capone’s on 7/11/07). This rating is based on the several servings I received of this particular beer. Appears a semi transparent haze of hahogany with a small white head that slowly fades out. Spotty lacing is left around the glass. Smell is of bourbon, caramel, cocoa, vanilla, oak, and raisins. To me, it doesn’t get much better than this. Taste is of the mentioned aromas with the bourbon being subtle but present in the already sugary, caramel mix. Wonderful idea that Flying Fish should bottle up sometime in the big 750’s, like they did with the barleywine. Mouthfeel is of sweet raisins, brown sugar, and caramel in a medium body. Slightly thin finish but a real fine winner based on any scale.

Draft at Capone’s. The pour is turbid rusty mud colored with minimal off-white head. The aroma is very nice, giving hints of heavy oaky spirits, vanilla, plum, cherry, earthy, berry, and some spicy hop notes. The taste is heavily malty, and fruity, giving cherry, berry, and plum hints, plus a solid dose of vanilla and oaky spirits, and some earthy notes. The aromas and flavors intermingle well in this, and it gets even better as it warms, although I drank my snifter too fast to let it get terribly warm. Hard to find, excellent beers like this one are one of the reasons that I never tire of rating beer, or scouting for it. Big props to Matt Capone for going out and continuing to procure beers like this one.

Draft at Capone’s. Cloudy burnt orange color. Bourbon, vanilla, toffee, brown sugar, and some dark fruit in the taste. Maybe a bit of cherries. Very fine - the bourbon doesn’t overpower the complexity.

[Draft @ Capone’s] Poured a hazy brownish red color with no head, that left light lacing on the side of the glass. Aroma of vanilla, dried fruits, bourbon, banana, and light chocolate. Taste of dark fruits, roasted malts, cocoa, caramel, yeast, with vanilla, bourbon, and light alcohol in the finish.