North Coast Old Stock Cellar Reserve Brandy Barrel

This Barley Wine pours a murky dark reddish brown color from a corked 375 ml bottle. Small sized white foamy head, that disappears very quickly. The aroma is caramel, dark fruit, raisins, hints of oak and sherry. A medium to full bodied Barley Wine. The malts are caramel, dark fruity and sweet. The hops are earthy. Lots of fruit, oak, and brandy/sherry flavors. Nice balance. Very smooth tasting. Mild carbonation. Hides the 14.5% alcohol very well. Some chocolate and toffee flavors emerge as it warms. Nice beer. There are lots of flavors mixing going on around here. I would prefer a little more carbonation. Mouthfeel is full and round. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet.

(Bottle, one million thanks to TheSheeseMan and WeeHeavySD) Pours dark brown with some dark red notes and a fast decreasing sand colored head on top of everything. The aroma is complex, well balanced and fat with malty tones of (burned) caramel, fudge and some chocolate, dark fruits like raisins, prunes and fresh figs are also notable. Oaky, alcohol-ish and vinous with tones of red wine, mature blue grapes, oxidation, brandy, port, butter and light vanilla. Undertones of pumpernickel, apples, nutshells, dark syrup, old sunlit wood facade and brown sugar. The flavour is of syrupy caramel malt and mild oxidation that keeps each other balanced, very vinous with notes of port, red wine and brandy, lots of dark bread tones, dark fruits like raisins and prunes but also some apples, some well-integrated oak with hints of vanilla and butter alongside of some of dark chocolate and sal ammoniac. No taste of alcohol but a great deal of warmth and numbing qualities. The mouthfeel is soft, gentle yet fairly sticky and numbing. Medium to heavily sweet and light bitter. Aftertaste of dark bread, red wine, sticky syrup and dark fruits. Medium to full bodied. The aroma is amazing and the flavour keeps on growing for every zip. This beer sucks… NOT.

Bottle. A brown beer with a beige head. The aroma and taste is oxidiced, of caramel malt, vanilla, wood and fruits, some alcohol. MEdium to full body with a sweet alcoholic finish.

Bottle. 2005 vintage. Rich dark mahogony beer with a tan head. Brandy, caramel, rich malt aroma. Sweet brandy, caramel, rich malt flavor. Nice complexity. Great flavor. Medium body. Hides alcohol more than the bourbon. Lingering brandy, raisin, caramel, and sweet malt. Lighter flavor but more lively than bourbon.

Botttle (375ml, green, corked & caged). Huge shout out to Richard - IrishBoy answered my SOS for a milestone beer a few months ago - thank you man!. 2005 vintage. *Rating #3000* two years, eleven months and 1 day after joining up. Wow, what a ride. Poured deep burnt umber, with a small head, looks great. The aroma seems to be mostly well-aged dry oak resin, musty, leafy and not as boozy as I expected; I’m getting minerally peat, some red wine tannins, dried candied brandy-soaked fruit, weak spicy yeast and under all that vague roast malt - lot going on here. The taste - wow, like chewing a well-aged brandy-sodden cask - brandy, sweet soft oak resin, vinous and fruity, with big but softened alcohol presence - as it warms it seems more and more like a strong brandy-filled dark chocolate on Christmas day, warms the ears and soul, and has a long, sweet/complex fruity-oaky finish. Very lively mouthfeel, there really, really is about 15% ABV here, but it’s sticky, slightly herbal under the oak, with a malt backbone that seems tastier and better balanced than regular Old Stock. Overall one of the best Barrel aged brews I’ve had yet - retains the base-beer character yet is transformed and enhanced by the aging - and best of all, it’s NOT bourbon. Well. That’s 3000. Thanks, Richard (and all you crazy guys who helped me get here via sharing and trades) - I wonder what’s up next? Maybe getting garthicus to 1000 heh heh heh. Slainte, all!