Captain Lawrence Smoke from the Oak (Wine Barrel)

750 bottle Colin brought back from his trip to NYC. Batch 2. Shared with us at Uber Tavern in Seattle. Pour is deep dark brown ruby, smallish tan head. Aroma is mostly about the red wine, it is remarkable how much this smells like a Pinot Noir. Behind the wine is some roasted maltiness. Taste of sour sharp winey maltiness. Smoked roastiness. Interesting taste, but pretty divergent from a beer. Finish has sourness. An interesting experiment to be sure, but the end result was in a sort of no man’s land for me.

750, capped. Batch 2. Thanks, Colin! Black. Dense but thin creamy tan head. Big red wine nose--smells simultaneously acetic and drying and also fruit-bomby. Perplexing. Maybe the fruits are from the malt? Nah. Medium body, sharp carb. Bit of a sour bite from all the acidity in the wine. Tastes almost bugged for a minute. Roasty malt base underneath, but kind of a mediocre porter. Fruity and sour on top of that. Like none other, to be sure, but doesn’t really seem to know what it wants to be, other than that it was in those wine barrels for a really long time.

750 ml bottle, batch 2 - thanks so much to goldtwins for the trade; pours a fuzzy dark brown with big dark tan head; aromas are sort of a strange mix of a stale tartness and red wine; flavors are fruity, sweet and a little chewy; soft, fluffy texture; finish is dry and tart; a very odd beer overall and pretty much all characteristics of the porter are gone, especially the flavors; i haven’t had the regular porter to compare though; drank alongside the rum and bourbon editions and all three were rather disappointing; hope to try again when i stop by captain lawrence in late june

Batch 2. Gushing. Oak brown pour. Thick film of ashy grey. Cherry and cassis notes in an aroma that gives a reserved but definite barrel suggestion. Caramel malts and some burly barbecue smokiness; the smoked quality seems more visceral given this softer touch of barrel presence. Malt presents more substantially as well; cinnamon and sugar, dark honey, bran cereal, fresh vanilla. Loveable subtlety and deep character there; where the bourbon barrel and brett of the last installment seemed, while intriguing and satisfying, too stark, the wine barrel seems the perfect compliment to the nuances of this already subtle arrangement. Oak tartness is the dominant flavor, which, again, imbued with the characters of wine seems unusually deep. Dark chocolate, mexican chocolate, tannins, lively currants and berries, and earthy, woodsy minerals. Maybe some citrus oils running through these thick cookie malts. So much full tartness and distinctive, polished malt character; flavors seem fully bonded to each other and so very velvety and understated. Palate is silken; medium to full in body and wholly round with this taut, caressing, cottony yeast texture. Sours up a bit quite nicely toward the end, lending a long, acidic cherry and sweet tobacco leaf flavor in a brisk, lightly dried finish. It would seem to be adventurous, but rather, it comes across more as a finely tuned example of a concept that’s been done with too little imagination too many times. Gorgeous. Thanks Andrew!

Bottle generously shared by pepsican. Batch #2. Gusher. Poured an opaque black color with a light brown head. The aroma was a nice mixture of typical porter smells (chocolate, roast), red wine, and subdued vinegar. Light acidity up front. Slightly sweet and tarry at the end. Oak and red wine vinegar flavors predominated, but were accompanied by roasty malt and chocolate. The body was lighter than expected and I didn’t get much smoke in the nose or flavor. Good stuff.