New Glarus Unplugged Bourbon Barrel Bock

Formerly brewed at New Glarus Brewing Company
Style: Doppelbock
New Glarus, Wisconsin USA

(Bottle) Pours a dark amber color, with a small amount of beige head. Aroma of dark malts, fig, and vanilla. Taste includes strong bourbon notes, some vanilla, and dark malts. Some sour fruity notes are in here as well. Excellent palate, and pretty good mouthfeel. Sweet finish, with some smoke in there as well. Tasty and smooth.

Bottle. Pours is clear copper with virtually no head. Aroma of caramel and dark fruits, figs come to mind. Taste is much better than what I was expecting from the aroma, tart fruits and caramel and almost turns a little sour. Very dark fruity and a little oak to round it out. Thin to medium mouthfeel. Dark fruit, raisins, plums finish. I thought I wouldn’t like this, but good stuff.

From a 12oz Bottle. Courtesy of valpoaj, obtained in a trade 1/21/08. Pours a mostly transparent, ruddy copper color with a thin ring of filmy off-white head. Lots of toffee and raisin/grape munich malt characters in the nose, along with some anise, oaky spice, vanilla, and allspice. Full bodied, slick malty texture with a soft, sparkling carbonation. Full bodied, but not excessively sweet. Rich, nutty, grapey malt flavors coat the tongue, along with some woody peanuts. Some vanilla oak characters start to come out mid-palate, along with a really unique all-spice character. A mildly leathery, brett-cherry tartness appears in the finish, and actually helps improve the dry perception of the finish without muddling up the bock-malt flavors. Notes of caramel and bourbon linger in the final smack with some warming alcohol and spicy black pepper. I’m actually at a bit of a loss as to how to properly rate this. It’s awfully complex, but while enjoyable, it seems a bit confused. Even though my overall impression of the beer as a stand-alone product is average, it’s definitely not forgettable. I’ll keep pondering and just enjoy. Thanks, AJ!

12oz bottle. Courtesy of Puddintane. Pours a cloudy brown color with a hint of red. Almost no head even with an aggressive pour. Smells of vanilla and oak. Tastes of malt and vanilla up front with a bourbon kick on the finish. Full mouthfeel that coats the mouth a bit, even with no head the brew had nice carbonation. Great beer.

delicious. The sweetness of the bourbon really shines here. It really mellows out after aging.

Pours a clear dark coppery orange with a small white head that quickly fades. Aroma of caramel, malts, vanilla and bourbon. Taste of sour oak and vanilla with hints of caramel and bourbon. Nicely done.

Strong taste of German barley malt. Oak tannins very noticible. Sweet sherry taste, not the best blend with the caramel. Good for sipping.

Wow, I was definitely bitch slapped by a beer. While in many respects I don’t care for this beer, it just grabbed me and made me rethink it as I drank. Weird. Absolutely weird. Maybe it;s the way it reminds me of myself that I like it. Not completely congruous, but somehow in the end, it all seemed to work. Sweet and tart and funky. BA for sure, but with that grett kick that adds a tartness. I couldn’t drink this all night, but I could manage to down a few and keep scratching my head and possibly liking more and more. I do kick myself for not noticing the brett note prior to opening and wish that I had another to age and see what transpires. Thanks to Jdipso, my SSanta