Epic Brewing Company Smoked & Oaked

This beer from Epic is an attempt at something I don't believe I have ever heard of.  It is a Belgian dark ale, like a dubbel or a quad, with smoked barley in the malt bill.  Specifically, they use cherrywood-smoked barley malt.  The final beer is then aged in oak whiskey barrels for an unspecified period of time.  I like Belgian dark ales, I like smoked beers, and I frequently like whiskey barrel-aged beers.  Naturally, this piqued my interest a great deal.

Upon opening the bottle, I was greeted by the dull sound of a minimally-carbonated beer lazily outgassing into the air.  It poured similarly, thick liquid sauntering down the side of the glass.  I can't in good faith notch a barrel-aged strong beer for low carbonation (they often lose a good deal of CO2 during the aging process), but Belgian-inspired beer shouldn't be this thick.  The color is within the bounds of Belgian dubbel/quad.  Overall, I say Oaked & Smoked breaks even on the eyes.

The aroma is as curious as the brewing process, all the more so because I cannot detect a whiff of whiskey.  The smoked component, meanwhile, more closely resembles the peat smoke of Scotch than anything else.  I have had cherrywood-smoked beer before; it doesn't smell or taste like peat.  Perhaps it is some phenolic byproduct of the Belgian yeast they used.  There are certainly some other phenols to be had here, lending a spice to the aroma.

Cherrywood-smoked malt, like oak-smoked malt or beechwood-smoked malt, should resemble campfire smoke with maybe a hint of burnt red meat; think smoked steak or bacon.  I am disappointed to find none of those qualities here.  Instead, we have a rather curious abrasion of peat smokey phenols (think Scotch whisky) married to the caramelized raisins of latent oxidation.  The relationship is a bit rocky at this point.  Some vanilla sweetness appears mid-palate, the only suggestion of oak present.  No hint of bourbon or any other American whiskey, though that's presumably the source of the barrel.  Not much more than a hint of ethanol heat.  There is a fairly big flareup of medicinal flavors towards the end, not unlike accidentally biting a Tylenol tablet.

The texture is interesting, and probably the high point.  The beer is thick and not especially carbonated, so I expected a sticky barley syrup with alcohol burn.  There is a hint of alcohol heat, but its primary function is to keep the sweetness in check.  The presence of so much phenolic flavors---peat, spice, that unfortunate touch of medicine---also dries the beer out a bit.  Just to be clear, I can feel the presence of a thick sweet beer here, but it is deftly balanced.  The acidity feels a bit high and out of whack but it doesn't offend, and never approaches sourness.

I should be tasting something resembling a rauchbier-dubbel cocktail soaked in bourbon.  This is not what I taste.  Altogether not a bad beer, but a somewhat deceptive label.  This would probably benefit mightily from a different (fruitier) Belgian yeast strain and a longer barrel-aging time.

I should be tasting something resembling a rauchbier-dubbel cocktail soaked in bourbon.

I should be tasting something resembling a rauchbier-dubbel cocktail soaked in bourbon.

rather a curious abrasion of peat-like phenols. 

rather a curious abrasion of peat-like phenols. 

Firestone Walker Stickee Monkee 2014

This is a beer Firestone Walker has made for years but never bottled until this year.  Ever since their tenth anniversary in 2006, they have made one beer every year that is a blend of a variety of barrel-aged beers.  The types of beer, the types of barrels, and the ratio of each beer changes every year.  Several of the component beers (namely Helldorado, Bravo and Good Foot) are only brewed to be blended into the anniversary beer.  This beer, Stickee Monkee, was one such beer until this year.  It was previously used in their 14th, 16th, 15th and 17th anniversary ales.

First things first, lest you be misinformed: Stickee Monkee is not what Firestone Walker says it is right now.  Today, Firestone calls this beer a "central coast quad."  For the last five years they called it an English barleywine.  The recipe for the newest release is the same as every previous release, when they called it a barleywine.  In other words, it's the same beer as when they called it a barleywine.  In other words, it is a barleywine.  Do not buy this expecting it to taste like a Belgian beer, because it isn't and it won't.


Got it?  Good.  Now that I straightened out what Stickee Monkee isn't, let's look at what it is.

It is, first of all, a nearly flat beer.  There was barely any pop when I pried open the cap.  As you can see below, there was no head formation, which of course means there was also no head retention. At first glance it looks quite a bit like a stout, actually, nearly black in color.  It doesn't show here, but holding the glass directly to the light reveals this to be more transparent than a stout, albeit still murky.  This actually comes very close to resembling Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine (BCB), possibly a bit darker.

Yes, that says 13.4% alcohol and 22oz.  Just think of it like drinking a bottle of wine.

Surprisingly, it smells like BCB too.  There is an unbelievably huge barrel character here, chock full of vanilla with a touch of coconut and buttery oak.  I can also pick out caramel, toffee, and some chocolate.  Honestly, this is a dead ringer for BCB.  It smells more like it was aged in barrels that held a stout than barrels that held a whiskey.

This more or less translates to the flavor as well.  The beer itself provides caramel and toffee flavors, while the barrel provides vanilla.  Coconut is a bit more pronounced here, as is sweet milk chocolate.  This genuinely tastes like it had some contact with barrels that had held one of Firestone's stouts (perhaps Parabola or Velvet Merkin), or else had a stout blended into it.

The only real drawback to the beer is the texture.  It is, indeed, very sticky.  One of the sweetest beers I think I have ever had.  I am used to sweet, sugary barleywines but if I hadn't had someone to split this with it would have been unmanageable. This would be better served with a touch more carbonation.

My good friend Hans sacrificed his liver for this review.

Stickee Monkee is, I believe, the closest any brewery has come to mimicking the flavor profile of Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine, which means it is also the closest any other brewery has come to mimicking Goose Island King Henry.  While not opaque, it is so dark that I will be truly shocked if Firestone ever definitively states this was not aged in Parabola or Velvet Merkin barrels.  Much like King Henry and BCB, it looks, smells, and tastes like it was aged in whiskey barrels that also held stout. 

It's delicious, just make sure you have someone to split it with...preferably someone with a resilient Nordic liver.

Skål!

Firestone Walker Parabola 2014

At long last, I managed to find a bottle of this.  Among widely-distributed beers, Parabola has long been considered the one most similar to Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (disregarding Goose's variations on that beer, of which there are many).  They are both imperial stouts.  They are both aged in Heaven Hill bourbon barrels for some time, usually between eight and twelve months. Though they vary year to year, both have more or less the same alcohol content (between 12.5% and 15%).  They share an identical appearance.  I was skeptical of this beer before I even tried it, but it is truly the closest thing to Bourbon County Stout you can find, while still offering enough to stand apart.

As is the case with Bourbon County, anyone expecting an exciting spectacle upon pouring Parabola out of the bottle will be disappointed.  It is pitch black and has no head retention.  Head formation cannot rise above a hair's width no matter how hard the pour.

Parabola possesses a truly massive barrel character.  Charred wood, hot bourbon, some wood tannins and a hint of vanilla all flow out.  The wood and whiskey smell here may even be more intense than modern Bourbon County.  The burnt oak scent reminds me of how that beer used to smell circa 2008, but not quite as intense.  The beer itself manages to peak through the aroma more than Bourbon County does, with a slightly more pronounced dark chocolate aroma.

The flavor follows a similar course.  Whiskey burn, char and vanilla dominate the barrel flavors, while tannic wood notes distinguish it from many other stouts aged in bourbon barrels.  There is a molasses flavor here that can't quite measure up to the stickiness of Bourbon County, but then again many people find that beer too sweet.  Actually, even though Parabola is almost as thick, it is noticeably drier.  I think the tannins help tame the sweetness a bit.


I find Parabola an impressive beer.  It is good enough that I can't say it is objectively better or worse than the beer Firestone clearly modeled it after.  I have a hard time imagining someone loving one of these but hating the other.  If you enjoy Bourbon County, this is probably the best substitute for it.

Allagash Tiarna

Time for another one of Allagash's one-off releases, Tiarna.  This beer was a blend of two beers, one fermented in a normal tank with two Belgian yeast strains and the other aged in oak barrels with brettanomyces (aka "brett").  Allagash has not said what the proportions were for the final blend.  Like all of their one-off bottles, it is sold in a 375ml/12.7oz bottle sealed with a champagne cork.

As one can see, it is an extremely bright golden hue topped by a billowy and fairly luxurious crown of white foam.  I must say, Tiarna has stunning head retention.  I let it sit out for five minutes to see if the foam would subside; it didn't, so I gave up and started drinking it instead.  Lively carbonation no doubt plays a role in this.

The crystal clarity of the beer changed dramatically by the end of the bottle as I finally managed to fit the dregs in:

I was unsure what sort of beer this would be.  Allagash has released brett beers before that were sours and brett beers that weren't sour.  Tiarna seems to be Allagash's crack at a middle ground.  Smells and tastes like success to me!

The aroma somewhat resembles a gueuze lambic, albeit milder and less sour.  Apple cider, wet hay and a ton of brett-induced funk.  There is a slight hint of what I have previously referred to as "sweaty apples," a smell I cannot describe any other way.  It is nowhere near as strong as it is in lambic, however.

Apple sweat and a cider-like tartness come through in the flavor profile.  They are joined by lemons, limes, grape skins and oak.  Unfortunately, the oak flavor takes on the very astringent character of wood tannins here, the only setback in an otherwise tasty beer.

Tiarna might not have the extreme acidity of a full-blown sour beer, but it otherwise has the texture of a sour down pat.  Which is to say, this beer is absolutely bone-dry.  There is not a hint of sweetness to be found.  The carbonation is brisk enough to rival a sparkling wine, a fact the video above testifies to.

Tiarna is an excellent beer overall, perfectly balanced between funky yeast flavor flavor on one hand and mild sourness on the other.  Again, my only complaint is that rather than provide a mellowing role the barrel-aging appears to have absorbed an inordinate amount of wood tannins.  The resulting beer is a touch more astringent than it should be.  In the end this is merely a mild detriment, however, and I imagine this being brewed again given how quickly it sold out.  Keep your eyes peeled for any future news about Allagash remaking it.

Erdinger Pikantus Dunkle Weizenbock

I have been on a German wheat beer kick lately, so here's another doppelweizen/weizenbock.  This one, called Erdinger Pikantus, is a strong dunkelweizen (dark wheat).  It is 7.3% alcohol and has a best-before date of October 2014.  In lieu of a proper weizen glass I poured it into a kölsch glass.  This is my first beer from this company.

Pikantus is definitely a dunkel (dark) doppelweizen.  It might even be darker than Aventinus.  The head is quick to form and somewhat slow to recede, and carbonation appears ample.  There is a strange sediment of sorts under the bottle cap and along the side of the bottle, almost as if it was stored upside down at some point.

The aroma is surprisingly muted for a doppelweizen.  Faint clove-like phenols mingle with something vaguely resembling caramel or coco.  Pikantus smells pretty boring actually.  The flavor gets things back on track a bit.  Wheat bread and crackers mix with cloves and various other opaque phenols.  I’m pretty sure the barley malts are some kind of Munich variety, it’s got that classic bready coarseness to it that some of the darker German beers have (especially doppelbock).  Caramel makes an appearance but it is pretty faint.  The taste of alcohol is unfortunately not faint, but it isn’t a huge burden on the taste buds.  The classic banana esters that virtually all weissbiers have are almost nowhere to be found, just the classic clove spiciness and some wheat.

Pikantus feels strangely dry and its acidity is a touch high.  The finish in particular has a lingering dryness normally unassociated with weissbier.  Nonetheless, Pikantus is just as fluffy as most German wheat beers, so the texture is by no means a failure.

Better than a fair amount of American takes on German wheat beers, but this still isn’t one I will reach for regularly.  I prefer less alcohol and more esters in my weizenbiers.