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Once I get 10 or 12 beers from a brewery under my belt (metaphorically as well as literally) I feel like I'm in a position to judge my take on the brewery itself. Lexington is, without question, great. They have had two bad beers (those seem inevitable), not a single beer in the not great category, only two average beers, one excellent beer, and the vast majority of their beers, 8 total so far, are great. Honestly, this is the ideal for almost any craft brewery. If you're swinging the bat as a brewmaster, you'll get some strikes, but you'll score, too.
I wish I could tell you what color this was. I bet it's really dark brown, but it genuinely looks black to me right now. The tan head fizzles to an incomplete cap that sticks around. It doesn't leave much lacing, but it has the curious effect of very, very slowly descending when the glass is moved around. I suppose it's a factor of the smallness of the bubbles and possibly something to do with the barrel aging. The aroma is charred oak and brown sugar. It smells really, really good.
First sip is a kind of normal (almost run-of-the-mill) stout at first, but then the finish hits, and I don't know where to go with it. It is sweet, woody, toasted, and the malt has almost caramelized to bring a very smooth and inviting flavor. That flavor, it turns out, is a tray upon which the 10% ABV is supplied. There is no questioning if this has a high ABV, and it isn't demonstrating that by punishing you. Instead, it is presenting it in a formal and delicate cocoa and caramel flower.
Tip-in is very light carbonation caress with chocolate and toasted oak. The middle stretches out into a slick slurry of caramel, earth, toasted oak, and vanilla above a thin line of carbonation. The finish is brown sugar that eventually gets hit by the alcohol and bitterness to remove sweetness before the oak and alcohol join unsweet cocoa for the trail off.
Bottom Line: You can't be a great brewery unless you make great beer, and they do.
3.75/5
