Oskar Blues Ten FIDY (Whiskey Barrel)

Draft: Jet black. Frothy burnt mocha head. Ink, overripe plums, espresso, scorched sawdust, plastic, soy sauce and molasses comprise the unrefined nose. Velvety-soft on the palate. Slick and oily. Fudgelike viscosity collides with gritty char, cocoa and rich espresso. Immense depth as smoky roast and prickly tannins nestle snugly into the palate. Barrel yields a touch of toasted coconut. Loses definition toward the center as it becomes syrupy, limp and alcoholic. Slick twang of molasses, soy sauce and overripe plums compounds this and keep the malts from adhering to the palate. Whispers of smoke fail to overcome the overly slippery, excessive fruitiness. Hint of plastic further tarnishes all luster that might otherwise exude. Finishes with dusty oak and oodles of char and smoky roast with a lingering ashen dryness. Because the cans of Ten FIDY highly vary in quality, I’ll assume this was a lackluster batch. While drinkable, I find it to be disappointingly sloppy and alcoholic. Gotta love the appearance, though!

Draught at the 6th Boulder Strong Ale Festival. Pours opaque with an average, fizzy, dark brown head, somewhat lasting with fair lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (molasses, chocolate, coffee), average hops (perfume), average yeast (leather) with notes of alcohol, prune, and date. Full bodied, creamy texture, average carbonation, and a bitter finish. Long duration, moderate sweetness and bitterness, light acidity.

On tap. Poured the same thick, viscous black as ever with a thick, deep brown head that remained quite well. Aroma was similar to regular Ten Fidy, strong roasted malts, chocolate, some coffee, with a hint of spicy bourbon. Flavor was also similar, strong roasted malts with chocolate and coffee, and bit of oat smoothness, finishing with some vanilla and lightly spicy bourbon. It seemed a bit thinner than regular Ten Fidy, which seemed awkward. Good, but not much different than regular Ten Fidy (at least the batch I had). Still, try it if you can.

On Tap @ Chandler Whole Foods....... OH HELL YES!! Pours a deep dark sludgy black with a really huge creamy brown head. Aroma of Ten-Fidy but with a nice Whiskey aroma. Flavor of oak, chocolate, vanilla, whiskey, roasted malts, coffee. The mouthfeel is really nice on this one and a bit creamier than regular Ten Fidy. The The whiskey flavor is much more well balanced with this beer compared to some other barrel aged brews i’ve recently had. Wow, an amazing brew became even more amazing.

On tap @ Chandler Whole Foods. Fairly small sample difficult to rate. I think I might have to take another 50 mile drive to try more!!! The head on this thing was huge and took what seemed like an hour to settle down. The body was crude oil in thickness and color. The most noticeable difference between the two brews is in the aroma, with added oak. The whisky is more subtle than in Bourbon County Stout, Top Sail Bourbon-Barrel Aged Porter, and Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout. A good one.

Tap @ Chandler Whole Foods. Poured a full pint glass for me, took a while to fill. Aroma was the usualy Ten FIDY style but with a larger dose of added aromatics than expected. Whiskey like notes as well as wood are definite but this overall has a strong vanilla note I don’t find in the regular ten FIDY. Flavor is nearly the same, still roasty, chocolately, coffee like......but with added vanilla and wood....mostly oak. Finish is same.....no surprises...fairly short and clean for such a big beer. The stickiest and dirtiest pint glass ever got slid back to the man on a terribly stained set of bar napkins. Thank you. I’ll take my flat of canned ten FIDY and go home and cry because this was AWESOME.

NOTB; agree with golubj’s comments. We sampled it together and had the same impressions. I just didn’t get the appeal of this beer. I found it chalky and lacking great chocolate notes. I see others have liked the chocolate components. The whiskey and roasted elements just didn’t work. Almost a total mess for me.

Sampled at NOTB. The best beer of the night in my opinion. Beautiful chocolate notes with very subtle sweet woody notes in the aroma. Flavor of chocolate and coffee with really nice hint of whiskey at the end.