Sprecher Bourbon Barrel Scotch Style Ale

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

1000 ml bottle from Holiday Wine Cellar. Mahogany brown with ruby highlights and a fluffy off-white head. Great Bourbon, oak, and vanilla aroma. A beautiful play of texture and flavors just in the medium body palate. Initial caramel and chocolate taste transitioning to an amzing bourbon and vanilla taste and finishing with a nice smooth oakiness. The alcohol is very well hidden allowing for a richly complex and flavorful beer that is wonderfully drinkable. This beer is under-rated.

Murky brown color with a thin head. Nice caramel aroma with maybe just a bit of smoke. Oh my god, the taste... all of the aroma plus just a great balance of the usual bourbon aged flavors: bourbon, vanilla and oak. I can not emphasize enough Sprecher’s brilliance at aging beer in bourbon barrels. It’s obviously been in a bourbon barrel, but it’s not like I’m drinking a pint of bourbon. Out-freaking-standing.

From a swing top 1 liter bottle with the words, " Brewmaster Limited Release" on the front label, a small amount of info on the right side of label, sampled at cellar temperature in a chalice. Opened with a loud pop, made a good appearance, poured a clear deeply red hued amber with a foamy beige head that settled into a a thin creamy lacing, good carbonation for a Wee Heavy. Had a rich Wee Heavy nose, smoky peat and slightly pork meaty, caramelized, toffee, molasses and a oak woodiness. A crisp, textured on the tongue and smooth full bodied mouth feel, very good drinkability. Delicious tasting, smokey peat, meaty, caramel and toffee, dark ripe fruits, caramelized brown sugar, vanilla barrel flavor, tea-like hops and a roasty, molasses sweet, smoky, caramelized malty finish. One of the best Wee Heavy/Scotch Ales I have tried, well worth seeking out and trying before it is gone.

Dark amber color with minimal white head. Bourbon nose with a sweet earthy tinge to it. Dry bourbon flavor that’s well balanced and not overwhelming.

1l bottle. Pours a clear ruby-red port color with a billowy brown head. Aroma is a unique blend of sweeter notes like caramel, chocolate, vanilla, licorice, and a hint of coffee alongside roasted malt alongside the unmistakable alcoholic bite and woody/peaty notes of brown liquor. Taste is not as full as you’d expect but also much mellower than you’d expect, with a low-key sweetness of caramel, chocolate and vanilla giving way to a smooth and long finish staggeringly similar to a mellow bourbon or whisky. Immensely complex and extremely delicious.

Bottle. Slightly hazy red-brown body under a thin white head. Butter, honey, biscuit dough, vanilla and cake donut in the aroma. Very smooth, mellowed and appealing. Great flavor, too. Smooth nutty caramel (Blake accurately says nougat) and light oak in start of the flavor with a light milky sourness (bittering hops + barrel) in the finish. I like what happened to the Piper’s here. Added a nice vanilla-sweet element on top of a caramelly Scotch.

Smell of bourbon, light malt, caramel, cream cheese frosting and some nuts. Taste of caramel, light bourbon, toffee, frosting, sugar and a touch of oak. I was expecting a lot more bourbon flavor but it was still good.