Papago Oak Aged Oh Brother

Handbottle from a growler, courtesy of SoLan. Pours a dark garnet, with a trace of a head. Nose of caramel, spice, pepper, and a touch of acidity. Mildly tart and caramel, peppery spice in the finish. A little boozy with hints of barrel, round mouthfeel and slightly tannic with low carb.

Handbottle from rustychiles, thanks dude. Poured a muddled brown color with some pale ruby highlights and a 1/4 inch, bubbly off-white head that faded to a thin layer. Aroma of soft caramel, some light tart cherry, grape skin, a bit of funk, and some oak. Smooth, lightly sweet entry with a warm caramel character transitions into a smooth, moderately sweet vanilla oakiness that finishes lightly tart with some soft hints of fruit and a faint bourbon spiciness. Low, soft carbonation and moderate mouthfeel. Overall, I enjoyed this beer. While the flavors weren’t overly complex, they were very enjoyable. The base beer seems pretty solid.

Pros: Has some nice things going on. Part of me wants to like it because it is both sweet and strong.

Cons: Thin mouth feel. Overbearing sweetness, making it out of balance. Really bland up front and towards the mid-palate. Flavors seem off. Just seems like a mistake.

Thanks to rustychiles for the share on this. Poured out of a growler into orval and bruery goblets. Next to no carbonation is present, but that is to be expected from a barrel-aged beer. Pours a very dark brown, much like many oud bruins. Aroma is of lots of dark candi sugars (figs, plums, dates, etc.), and some muted barrel and sour characters. First impression on taste is "wow." I know that’s not really saying much, but other words didn’t come to me at the time. This is a very complex beer. Lots of those dark fruits, lots of belgian yeast character, and on the tail end of the palate bourbon, oak, and lacto sourness. These final three elements really rounded out the beer. This does not taste like a 12.5%++ beer at all. It is hidden extremely well. Definitely not cloyingly sweet and extremely complex. The only major complaint I have is such low carbonation, but the quality of the beer still showed through.

I heard they tapped a 2005 Keg of this oak barrel aged beast at Papago and I’m pretty sure this is the same beer. If not I will make a new entry. Pours a nice hazy caramel color with a small off white head. Aroma is caramel, malts, sour mash, wood, spices, fruits and more. Flavor is fruits, significant sourness, whiskey, oak, caramel malts. Has a very nice sour barrely flavor going on and the age has done some nice things to this brew. 12.5% is hardly noticable or maybe I just don’t notice because this has such a nice flavor profile going on. Fantastic brew.

Fruity aroma, easy drinking for a stronger beer. Flavor is a nice sweet and sour mixture. Alcohol was noticable. Good stuff.

tap @ papago. bocky must be following me...? first time i’ve seen this so i had to try. smells of green apples, vanilla and whiskey. flavor reminded me of green apple pie with the cinnamon and vanilla. very rich warm mouthfeel. alcohol is definately present and the wood comes through nicely. great way to finish a meal...very strange

2005 version... they must have re-innoculated this? rich red apples, pie spice, fruit sourness, rotten grain, alcohol and yeast show in the aroma and flavor profile. sourness has appeared but this is nowhere near sour (it IS a quad after all). nonetheless, a tasty after dinner brew...

Tap @ Papago. Aroma had srong alcohol whisky along with some fruity sour aroma. Also some wood present. Dark body but brew pub is dimly lit average head. To me this was more in line with a whiskey old fashion sweet than a beer. And that is not all bad for me. Sweet fruity and sour flavors with an alcohol presence. Good sipping beer, easy on palate.