I was quite excited when I got this beer. In fact, it was the reason I went back and picked up the excellent 2020 and 2021 versions of this beer. For $60, this seems like an unusually expensive beer, and the only indication of why they think it is worth it is that it spent a year in barrels with the 2020 beer, and then it spent a year in a toasted barrel. Will that make it better than the 5.0/5 2021 beer?
Sporting almost no head at all, this appears much more dour than its two stablemates. Even the 2020, imbibed in late 2021, managed to put out more of a head than this, but that’s not too surprising. The minimal tan bubbles surmount the deep black mahogany beer, and I expect a toasty aroma. Instead, it presents as nearly identical to the other beers; sweet cherries, seared brown sugar, vanilla, and smoky wood. It’s not a bad smell, but I somehow expected the extra cost to present more differentiation.First sip is a syrupy mix of oak, smoke, vanilla, and molasses. It is around the same as the previous two beers, and there is nothing wrong with that taste. This seems like it has more in common with the 2020 beer than the 2021 vintage. The smoke is a little heavier, but I don’t know that it’s a year of being immersed in charred wood kind of smoke. The beer is less congenial than the 2021 regular beer, but that’s just a sip.
Tip-in is very light carbonation sizzle with a thick syrup of seared brown sugar, molasses, and vanilla. The middle rocks in with a slightly increased amount of carbonation while the syrup covers the mouth with all the tastes in the sip, and it does so with an aplomb and dignified reticence that it seems almost formal; but it stays sweet. The middle is the sensation (not the flavor) of a crème brûlée with its decadence and relative stodginess. The finish is where smoky oak slaps the tongue with molasses and sends a slight bitterness into the trail off.
Bottom Line: An excellent beer, but there are cheaper versions of this same beer that bring as much warmth.