North Coast Old Stock Cellar Reserve Brandy Barrel

Formerly brewed at North Coast Brewing Company
Style: Barley Wine
Fort Bragg, California USA

NOTB; really disappointing for me. Had high expectations. However, as I look back at my rating for the stock beer, I didn’t like that too much either. So maybe it shouldn’t be too surprising. Same thoughts as the bourbon aging. I liked this one a bit more. Had a better aroma and a better palate. Same fig and grape elements. Biggest disappointment of the night due to the high ratings.

It’s so good! A bit rocky transition into the spiciness of the brandy flavor, but a nice dark barleywine. More dry than sweet, but still outlines of brown sugar and fruit. Ageing smooths this one out so very nicely.

For a beer thats normally very strong and the alcohol even stronger the brandy and time did a great job leveling out all the flavors. The bourbon barrel was almost identical to the brandy one.

This beer was an amazing example of brandy barrel aging. Excellent flavors of brandy were present but were still in the background. Well balanced thick and chewy beer with a lingering finish. Nice

Bottle. Sampled at the Extreme Beer Fest Night of the Barrels, 2/15/08. I was looking forward to trying this beer, so it was the 1st beer I sampled at the fest. Poured murky brown, with a moderate sized tan head. Nose was nearly all brandy, with faint notes of malt and dark fruit. Flavor was a better balanced; brandy, plum and vanilla add nice character to a caramel malt backbone. Finishes with an alcohol burn, and brandy lingers on the palate for a while. This beer has a ton of potential, but I think the brandy overwhelms the base beer.

Extreme Beer Fest 2/15/08: Aroma/taste of heavy alcohol, raisins, sweetness. I thought there was too much brandy here. A disappointment (for a supposed top 50 beer).

EBF NOTB. This was very similar to the bourbon aged version, but the alcohol in the aging for this one was a little sweeter. Otherwise, everything I said about the bourbon version applies here. I don’t think I ever liked the original old stock barleywine.

EBF V NOTB. Nose was just too much brandy for me. The flavor was on the other hand very rich in the malt department and more smoothly blended with the brandy, lots of sweet fruit, notably raisins, especially toward the finish. I felt though that the brandy still covered up some subtler flavors that might have been hanging around in there though, letting through only the most powerful dark fruits. A very flavorful beer certainly, but I thought the brandy was just a bit too much.