Captain Lawrence Imperial Smoke from the Oak (Wine Barrel)

Formerly brewed at Captain Lawrence Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Elmsford, New York USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

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750 ml bottle from dmac. Thanks, dude. Shared in succession with the deyholla agenda. Pours a richer deep blackish brown hue, opaque qualities, with deeper hues. Frothy tannish head laces as a ring, mellow lacing. Aromas are oaky and smokey, some campfire, oak, toffee. Gentle cherrywood and some peaty elements connect. Some oak, gentle tannic oak, red wine. Initial is medium bodied, a touch bigger with some toasty malts, gentle roast. Nicer red wine elements, oak is more mellow. Less oxidized with some red wine oak, gentle tannic grape. The red wine barrel really integrates well, smokey elements into middle and backend. Some cocoa, roast, and toffee. Caramel, biscuits, and toast. Backend is a bit more roasty, some cocoa, and red wine. Gentle yet inviting tannic presence. Backend is a bit dry, toasty, and some red wine. A bit toasty, oaky, vanilla, and some nice roasty qualities, red wine and tannic prsence lingers, not assertive. Really well integrated flavors. Best of the the 3 Imperial Oak versions.

Bottle shared by Adam, thanks! Pours black with a dark brown head that dissipates slowly to the edges. Aroma has a good amount of smoke with some dark grains and just a bit of underlying bourbon. Flavor is similarly smokey throughout with a bit of bourbon and some dark grains.

In short: A very smoky roasted black ale with very well integrated oaky vinous flavors. Very good.
How: Bottle 750ml, consumed approximately one year after its release (first and only batch so far). Bottle from my man Jay as part of the gift-set.
The look: Black body topped by a persistent small bubbly tan head.
In long: Nose is heavily smoky (campfire), burnt cereals, fruity notes. Taste has a crisp and highly roasted malts reminiscent of burnt croissant, well integrated flavor of very woody red wine, nice oak, fruity notes going beyond red-wine, unexplainable light cinnamon bun sensation. Very barrel treatment quite obviastringent finish. The ous but somehow doesn’t overwhelm CL’s excellent smoked porter character, I’m almost suspecting a reblending with a fresh base beer. Whatever they did to get that result they need to do it again, this was pretty damn good. Another 750ml of strong beer that was too easy to drink, and apparently I could add years to my life by drinking less beer, by not jumping in front of trains and by no mooning bulls with my butt painted red… so I’m doing mostly good.

A - Pours a dark black with a hint of brown and a finger of frothy chocolate-khaki colored head. The head fades down at a normal pace leaving behind some lacing. S - Aroma is a mix of roasted chocolate malts, coffee, vanilla, smoke, oak, red wine, black licorice, dark fruits, and some booze. T - Starts off with a mix of roasted chocolate malts with some vanilla, dark fruits, and black licorice. Through the middle, oak and red wine come through with some good smoke and some coffee. The finish is a mix of roasted chocolate malts, red wine, smoke, vanilla, oak, coffee, black licorice, and dark fruits with some booze. M - Full bodied with moderate carbonation. Feels smooth with a smokey, sweet, and warming finish. D - Very drinkable. The red wine really adds some nice complex flavors on top of the big base porter and balances it out.

The aroma is smoke, wine, chocolate. The appearance is deep blacjk, tan head. The flavor is wine, grapes, chocolate, smoke. Least smoky of the series. The finish is smoke, roast, wine. Medium/thick in body. Nice.

The pour is black with a small tan head. Nose is highly vinous and tart. Lots of dark fruits, wine, and a bit of balsamic vinegar. Some oak, smoke, and roasted malt. Mild sweetness, too. The flavor is highly tart. A definite balsamic vinegar flavor, a bit of red wine vinegar, too. Very vinous, some dark fruits, oak, and roasted malt. Not all that smokey. Some berries, a touch of vanilla. Really nice.

750mL bottle, dated 2010. Poured near-black with a smoked tan head that stuck to the glass as it descended. The aroma picked up a lovely, and very interesting blend of campfire smoke, vanilla, chocolate, an vinous notes.. a little tanginess from the barrel stuck on the back of the nose.. decadent and welcoming. The flavor found sour/tart red winey notes and charred oak barrel throughout.. it was tough to get down to the malts beneath, but I think there were assorted black ones, including chocolate.. a lot more slightly funky barrel and peppery warmth on the very vinous finish. Medium-plus bodied with just too much barrel influence.. I enjoyed all of the components, and a little shift in balance would make this world-class.

Tasting at Papsø’s
Dark brown color, almost black, with red hue, and no head. Very nice aroma, delicate but deep smoke, with some fruity sourness from the wine barrel. Good body strength, good chocolate flavor, lean mouthfeel, with strong mix of smoke and red wine, wood; correct bitterness level; it ends with evident alcohol warmth. This beer is powerful, full of nice flavors, complex, not elegant, but very enjoyable.

pretty nice beer. distinct roasted dark chocolate and coffee malt backing with a pleasant tangy plum and red wine tannin tanginess to it. complimented nicely by a pleasant alaskan smoked porteresque smoke character. dry. worked well. nice.

2010 bottle shared by lushawn- thanks a lot, Shawn! Pours a coffee brown color with a small tan head. Notes of smoke and wine are what I get first, plus coffee, dark chocolate, caramel, toast, and earth. Medium-bodied, with moderate carbonation. Odd mix of tartness and smoky; we just had a Yazoo Fortuitous and this seems to work better than that one in terms of balancing smoky and sour.