5 Seasons North Whisky Barrel Aged Quinte55ence

Brewed by 5 Seasons North
Style: Abt/Quadrupel
Alpharetta, Georgia USA

A halcyon, pitch black liquid streams from the bottle, generating a thin dark brown head that fades slowly and fully. Scents of chocolate and morels permeate the air slowly, building anticipation and evolving into a highly complex, high-quality bourbon and roast assault that takes on a formulaic approach to its soulless attack on the senses. Notes of wintery spices, earth, caramel and wood blend into a devilishly warming concoction, a prognosticator of the depth that will hold true in the first sips. Fruit flows next, freely, charging past the cilia with nuances of strawberries, blueberries and boysenberries - pits, stems, flesh, everything is accounted for and ripe, raw. The nearly tangible heat from heavy alcohol burns brightly but doesn’t pulverize other subtler notes into submission. With time, this will cease to be worldly and move into the realm of perfection, of supposed unattainability in it’s genre. I think it’s safe to say I like it. The flavor reveals intricately woven contrasts and merging similarities from different styles, namely Baltic porter and Belgian dark strong ale. Roasted grains command the stage, bourbon is secondary. Levels of spice approach that of a Scotch ale but still remain pleasantly Belgian at heart. This is huge, but still so elegant! Medium-high sweetness engages the palate enough to modestly conceal alcohol as the liquid glides, and stalls out, then starts its trek again across the tongue, vanilla and cherry notes following in succession. hints of sherried and port-like oxidation appear late. Vinous impressions scatter throughout and tension builds as new flavors continually emerge. Spices now seem to be predominantly cardamom and coriander, though this is just trickery, a portrayal of complex esters. The finale is drying, robust, slowly and ultimately very signifigantly warming, lightly tannic, roasty and chocolatey. The mouthfeel is as graceful as something this complex, powerful and as yet unfinished in it’s destined-to-be-elegant aging process could be. The body is smooth but as heavy as an anvil, sharp in its intentions but soft where it counts, softly but adequately carbonated and mildly sticky. Lightly syrupy but so poignant and driven while still maintaining refined qualities. This is the definition of engaging. I am amazed. This will likely be as good as anything it is tasted alongside in a few years.

Poured a hazy deep brown color with no head. The aroma is of whiskey, vanilla, brown sugar, dark fruits,and alcohol. The flavor was sweet with notes of red apples, caramel and brown sugar. Smooth mouthfeel. Medium-full bodied with nice warmth.

(Hand Bottled 750ml) Pours an opaque dark brown body with a spare beige head. Aroma of barrel, caramel, whiskey, and molasses. Flavor of molasses, oak, vanilla, and a touch of dark fruit.

750 ml bottle shared with CaptainCougar, TBC, and kp
Looks sort of like a brown imperial stout. Think and chocolatey. No real head.
The aroma is full of oak and whisky induced vanilla. Come light roast, and dark fruits as well.
The flavor shows some toffee, cherry, vanilla, whisky, oak, and some smoke.
Medium/full body. Light carb.
I think they took this off for good reason. I seemed really young, and the flavors didn’t seem to blend all that well. Still, thanks to kp for making the call to have this available for us.

750ml bottle-pours no head and black color. Aroma is nice, dark malt-molasses, some vinuous. Taste is dark, dark, dark malt-molasses some vinuous /charcoal/tar, dark fruit, vanilla, oak. Not my style but nice.

Thanx to Boboski for sharing this.Pours out real dark brown, not quite black.Bourbon and caramel on the nose.Flavor was bourbon, woody, sweet, chocolate, roastedness with a touch of vanilla.This was a flavor explosion.Very good brew.The finish was balanced and complete.

Bottle: Pours a very dark viscous mahogany with a thin ring of tan bubbles. Nice, dense oaky whiskey complex aroma has good, rich caramely Belgian malt and dark fruit. Body starts very full, rich and caramely with a little doughy yeast and good balance of oaky whiskey toward a full, bready enjoyable finish with great complexity. This one is really well done.

Courtesy boboski. Thanks for sharing this rare gem! Pours a dark brown, with just the slightest light brown head. The aroma is of bourbon, caramel, malts, syrup, and light vanilla notes. The bourbon didnt seem to overpower to much and there was some balance here. The flavor seemed even more well balanced. The vanilla, caramel, and bourbon seemed to coincide together perfectly. very full and rich mouthfeel, the alcohol was there, but masked somewhat decently for a bourbon aged brew. Really well done. I enjoyed this very much.