Tyranena Devil Over A Barrel

Formerly brewed at Tyranena Brewing
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Lake Mills, Wisconsin USA

12oz bottle from Mrthirstyneck - thanks, Shane! I’ve really been looking forward to this one, as I love coffee, dark beers, and barrel aging (yes, for a "fad" I’m still on board). While I confess to being mildly disappointed, I’m pretty sure my expectations were way too high. So, the positives. This is a very well balanced beer in terms of the barrel presence, with very subtle notes of wood and bourbon that don’t at all interfere with the base beer. The same holds true for the coffee, which isn’t quite as sharp and roasty as I prefer but which is nicely integrated all the same. My basic sense is that this one doesn’t have quite enough personality at the base to sustain it - Dirty Old Man and Devil Made Me Do It come across better as porters, whereas this one is a bit too top-heavy as it were. Clearly I still think it’s very good, since I’m giving it a 3.8, but it’s not quite the home run I was hoping for.

12 oz bottle shared with sammy and hyde. hydes bottle. pours dark brown with a nice tan head. coffee and bourbon with some dark malts for the aroma. coffee, bourbon and chocolate flavours. some bitterness. a nice brew but it wasnt the best coffee beer of the day and wasnt the best bourbon beer of the day. still top notch stuff though. thanks for the share hyde.

Black with a tan head that recedes to a ring around the glass, but leaves some lacing. Smell of coffee with cream, some smoke, but I don’t know if I could distinguish bouron out of it if I didn’t know it was bourbon. Taste of coffee, bitter chocolate, some bourbon, a little oak and vanilla. Coffee is definitely the predominant taste, just like how it was in the fresh Devil Made Me Do It. Less than medium carbonation with a full body.

12oz Bottle. Noses in an acidic church coffee, backed with slightly stale espresso beans coated in cheap, grainy carob-chocolate. It’s not the worst coffee aroma ever, but it’s a harsh, acidic, slightly old and dusty and not entirely desirable. It’s fresh, but in a Dunkin’ Donuts way, not the just fresh-roasted around the corner from top grade Peruvian stock way. Meh. Pours rather deep black-brown, with a mahogany fringe and a nicely lacing tannish head. Flavor starts from that okay coffee flavor and builds some character. The harshness of the beans still carries through and mars what I think is a decent layer of chocolate cake, oatmeal cookies, and cream. Decent malt profile signed with a strong bit of oak. A good leaf of hop comes fast on the backend for immediate balance. I’m mildly perplexed by this beer. The relatively lighter bodied lets some of the fruitier coffee characters show. I don’t know. Coffee for coffee’s sake isn’t really worth it. It’s got to be great coffee flavor. I’m not a fan of coffee beers that use beans, there’s just the wrong kind of extraction. I also find the gummier, juicier hop flavors wax over the lingering malt and barrel character in the end. A little bit of mess really. You’ve got the sub-par coffee flavor starting first and riding over the top, a decent malt bill fighting for attention, barrel character searching for a home and rather out of place amount of hops muddling up the back end. This is pretty much Wisconsin’s tamer version of Founder Kentucky Bourbon Breakfast Stout. At least the alcohol stays tame in this one. I don’t think the blending really helped this beer much.

Bottle @ ORL throwdown, courtesy of dchmela. This pours black with a thin tan head. Huge coffee on the nose! This smell is just incredible, coffee, bourbon, oak, chocolate and a touch of sweetness. Flavor has the same elements, but they are all just balanced so nicely. The coffee doesn’t take over, nor does the bourbon and oakiness. A little sweet in flavor, but with a dry finish. A touch thin in the mouth. I get a kick of hops at the end, where a slight numbness/tingle from the hops sets in. This is just fantastic. For a beer that has a huge amount of "hotwords" going for it (oatmeal, coffee, bourbon barrel, imperial) the most amazing thing is the balancing act they pull off. Incredibly enjoyable.

12 oz bottle. Very dark brown pour with a tight bubbled creamy light brown head. I love the nose, it almost smells more like coffee than beer! Very complex aroma, coffee, dark chocolate, wood, just a hint of bourbon, roast. Actually is smells more like fresh used coffee grounds than coffee. Delicious, I could smell this all night. Flavor is really well balanced, there’s tons of coffee and chocolate, but then a lot of vanilla and charred bourbon barrel as well. There’s really not a whole lot of actual bourbon flavor, which is completely fine by me, it’s just a subtle nuance instead of overpowering the Porter. The finish reminds me of that last sip of coffee from the last cup from the pot when the filter collapses and you get a bunch of grounds that pass through, or maybe chocolate covered espresso beans. The body is smooth and full with perfect soft carbonation and a lingering finish. This was truly awesome, it has to be up there with my favorite coffee beers.

12oz bottle, no date--thanks to Colin (General_Gao) for getting me this. This fool is black with a 1/2 finger tan head that fades to a thick creamy ring and film. Aroma is full of cold coffee and sweet caramel with some roasted malts, and a brown sugary vanilla bourbon background. Bourbon notes are definitely stronger in the flavor, but not dominating--merely serving as a complement to the base beer. Plenty of coffee and roasted malts are still dominating, Bone dry finish with bitterness peaking at a 2-3 and the alcohol being masked very well. Burps coffee and sweet bourbon. Medium-full creamy body with light carbonation. I loved the regular Devil, but can’t really tell if I like it aged in a barrel or not. That said, I believe this is the second barrel aged blend that Tyranena has done, and I think it’s the way to go as opposed to gambling with overdone and underdone barrels.

I had to scour the Midwest to find one of these babies and let me tell you, it was well worth it. It pours so dark and rich with a sensational smell of coffee and cocoa. The bourbon is not too over powering but definitely present and the oatmeal finishes it off. Amazing.