Hap and Harry's "Tennessee Whiskey Barrel" Ale

I've only had three other beers from these guys, and none one of them has been particularly good. The lager I tried was seven years ago, and I really didn't have a very good process for really taking in a new beer. So I could definitely let that one slide. The second one was a weird fruit beer that used cherries for some reason. The IPA was just outright disappointing. This barrel aged beer has a decent chance of hitting right where the good beers sit.

The clear, deep mahogany beer puts me in mind of an abbey ale or the like, and I can't stress enough how clear the beer is. The head took a bit of coaxing to come out, and it is gone as quickly as this picture could be taken. A very thick ring around the sides with a ghost of a lily pad in the middle are all that's left of the head. I can't imagine I'm going to see much lacing. The aroma is heavy with wood and, strangely, alcohol. I say strangely as this is only a 6.5% ABV beer, and I usually encounter barrel aged beers that have the heavy alcohol taste of the wood in which it was stored.

First sip tells me exactly where they were going with this beer. This has the taste of the whiskey barrels in which it was aged, but it doesn't bring the wood dryness or the alcohol heaviness. It seems like they've extracted the exact right amount of the wood to give this beer a little extra flavor while not overpowering the relatively sweet caramel malt. I think there may be some tropical fruits from the hops in there, but they are not being featured, and I'm okay with that.

Tip-in is wood dryness and caramel sweetness with the shadow of whiskey on the wall and almost no carbonation at all. The middle is where carbonation finally hits, and it's associated with a rise in the caramel malt and bit of toffee while the wood continues to swirl and add depth, but the coarseness of heavy alcohol is nowhere to be seen. The finish is a sparkle of bubbles before carbonation goes completely away, and the shadow of whiskey is once again cast over the sweet caramel while wood joins it again for the trail off.

Bottom Line: Well-balanced and great tasting.

4.25/5