Lexington "Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Strawberry" Ale

The question on my mind is if this can match or exceed the flagship Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale that this is based on. This is the third (and last) of my "Why Is Strawberry Being Added To All These Beers" series. As I write this, the worst of (the original variant of) COVID-19 is behind us, but something might have happened that caused more strawberries being available for some supply-chain reason.

This one brings a quite noticeable red sheen to the otherwise clear gold beer. The head is a bit more reluctant than the usual ale, and I wondered about this until I remember that this is barrel aged, so the head that I got was actually kind of a bonus. It's not sticky, so no lacing, but it manages to retain an almost complete layer of bubbles when it dies down. The aroma is heavy on the bourbon and light on everything else.

First sip reflects the nose in the amount of bourbon, but a sweet malt is adding a lot of texture to the beverage. Are the strawberries helping? I... I don't know. I don't think I tasted them, but that might be from the overwhelming nature of the bourbon. It's not unpleasant to sip, and that is a step up from some of the attempts at barrel aged beers I've tried.

Tip-in is sweet and stingy with the bourbon filling the nose and a quite attention-grabbing strawberry around the outskirts. The middle is smooth with strawberries, a nice smooth malt, and the bourbon only leaves wood to do it's dirty work here. The finish re-asserts bourbon HARD with the smoothness never going away, but the strawberry sitting down and taking a nap before things turn slightly dry.

Bottom Line: I wouldn't have thought these tastes would work so well together.

3.5/5