Reviews

Pours a pretty standard amber orange color, moderate legs. Smells nice, caramel with a bit if oak and vanilla, maybe a hint if spice and leather. Taste follows ghe nose, a little caramel, oak, and vanilla with more spice than the nose, and a helping of booze. Mouthfeel is full bodied and boozy; i have a baby beer palate, but the alcohol overpowers ghe more delicate characteristics a bit. Overall, could use a little more age, but this is pretty great for what it is… Beer Nerd Musings: Most don’t use the 7 year, but Old Fitz is a prized barrel for beer (the Pappy adjacent history, however remote it may be at this point, probably helps). Goose Island Bourbon County Barleywine famously did a 2 year variant aged in Old Fitz batrels that was phenomenal and the barrels provided a pretty unique character to that beer. There’s also been Eclipse variants of this in the past that were pretty good, and Ive definitely had a few others thst turned out well, these are clearly good for beer barrel aging

Pours a striking amber orangle color with clear legs as i drink. Smells rye forward, lots of cinnamon and spice, with a heaping helping of caramel, oak, snd vanilla and just a hint of dark fruit, cherry and blackberry and the like. Taste follows the nose, tons of rye spice, caramel, oak, and vanilla, with a boozy bite. Mouthfeel is tich and full bodied, pretty hot to my baby beer dork palate, but pretty approachable for its proof (would have pegged it as lower than it is). Overall, a beautiful, rye-forward whiskey, worth the stretch… Beer Nerd Musings: Well, Little Book is a blend, so you don’t see much beer aged in barrels attributed to Little Book, but you do see plenty of Beam references… though usually more bourbon than rye. The barrels that went into this blend would likely be great for beer barrel aging though, and I’d definitely seek that out…

Pours a very nice golden orange, coppery color, moderate legs. Smells fantastic, lots of oaky sawdust and a beautiful vanilla note, caramel and toffee with a distinct nuttiness and earthy leather, with a bit of the spice box. All of this screams classic, standard bourbon, but with distinct grace notes that separate it from the pack. Taste follows the nose, perhaps a bit less complex, but the pattern of typical bourbon character elevated by grace notes remains. Mouthfeel is rich and full bodied, but relatively dry in the finish. Overall, this is pretty fantastic, and I’m glad I bought the bottle (even if it’s not selling for bargain basement prices anymore - still pretty accessible for these days where double digit age statements are a rarity). Beer Nerd Musings - Lots of stuff aged in Henry McKenna barrels out there. I haven’t had much, and most of what I’ve had has been part of a blend- like Bruery Black Tuesday Blender’s Choice (2022). It’s a great beer, but the McKenna was one of six different barrels in the blend. I have a bottle of Evil Twin’s Great Northern series #44 coming my way shortly, and its a blend of stout aged 35 months in 11 year Henry McKenna barrel (with a barleywine aged in Lairds). Another blend, but I should be able to get good feel for McKenna influence. Regardless, I’d certainly be swayed by a beer aged in these barrels, they seem ideally suited.

Dark amber color, darkest of a flight of Bluebird spirits. Great nose, super oaky, leather, caramel, vanilla. Taste follows the nose, tons of tannic oak, caramel, vanilla, a bit of earthy complexity. Mouthfeel is full bodied and dry (but not over-oaked levels dry). Overall, a pretty great, surprising pour from a small local distillery. Beer Nerd Musings: Not sure what to make of “double oaked” bourbon barrels as vessels for beer aging. Im assuming both barrels would work well enough, but maybe the second barrel would be better? I’m not aware of any beers aged in either Bluebird barrels or any sort of double barrel bourbon barrels (though I’ve had plenty of beers aged in Woodford or Beam barrels, both of which have popular double barrel offerings). Would think that these Bluebird barrels would work well though, as the bourbon is solid…

Honeyed toast, buttery malt, oak, tasty Scotch-like malt, a hint of char but no peat whatsoever. Soft and easy going, a solid sipper and would make for a steady go-to, but not going to blow you away… Beer Nerd Musings: I haven’t had any beer aged in Yamazaki casks, or, come to think of it, any Japanese malt casks. I did a quick search, and it appears that Suntory makes beer, and they’ve taken the baffling approach of aging a pilsner in Yamazaki barrels. I… don’t get it. That can’t be very good…

Pours your standard coppery orange color. Smells great, lots of the spice box, a very nice earthy note, and some oaky brown sugar. Taste follows the nose, plenty of spice, the earthy character emerges more here, maybe a hint of maple and brown sugar, but it finishes a bit bitter (this is a good thing!) mouthfeel is medium bodied, not too boozy to this baby beer nerd palate, pretty easy going. Overall pretty great stuff! Beer Nerd Musings: I’m not aware of any Old Overholt barrel aged beers (and a brief search yields no results), but I think these 11 year old barrels would be fantastic on a stout or maybe even a barleywine…

Pours a medium amber orange color. Smells nice, lots of vanilla, less in the way of baking spice, but it’s there, cinnamon and the like, some caramel, with hints of oak and a nice fruity note. Taste follows the nose, vanilla, light spice, a bit of caramel, hints of oak and dark fruit. Mouthfeel is full bodied, rich, with significant alcohol heat. Overall, certainly worth the shelf price, but the hype and secondary market are way out of proportion here… still, it’s a nice, enjoyable dram. Beer Nerd Musings: Lots of beers are aged in Weller barrels, and the hype and status as a Pappy alternative transfers to beer as well. The BCBS Anniversary was aged for 2 years in Weller 12 barrels, and it’s pretty great, a solid upgrade from standard BCBS.

State Line Liquors Erik & Chad selection 8 Years Old, 133 Proof, 66.5% ABV, Barrel No. 6570975 Not quite as oaky or complex as standard 12 year expressions, but it’s still got a good oak character, and the high octane proof hits hard. Oak, vanilla, light spice box, caramel, pretty classic bourbon notes intensified by the high proof. Good stuff, but the 12 year barrel proof expressions are better… still good though… Beer Nerd Musings: I actually don’t know of any beers specifically aged in non-12 year (or older) EC barrels, but EC is generally considered great for barrel aging beers, and this would certainly do well. I’d still be on the lookout for EC aged beers.

Pours your standard golden orange color. Smell has that classic bourbon character, oak, caramel, vanilla, a bit of baking spice, cinnamon, and the like. Taste hits that same standard profile, caramel, oak, vanilla, a little brown sugar, molasses, cacao, some of that baking spice rounding things out. Mouthfeel is pretty good for the lowish proof, not big and burly, but not thin at all either, just a really nice balance. Overall, this is great. Not exactly sure about the hype and definitely not worth secondary, but worth the flier at this bar… Beer Nerd Musings - One of last year’s 2021 Bourbon County Reserve variants was aged in Blanton’s barrels and it was fantastic - It had a distinct brownie batter, fudge, richer and more intense character than regular. I haven’t had a ton of other Blanton’s barrel aged beers, but the ones I have had tend towards that same fudgey character, which is interesting.

Pours a light golden yellow color with moderate legs. Smell has that distinctive new make character to it, but the hops come through strong. More floral up front than I would expect from all the American C hops in Racer 5, but a lemony citrus is peeking in as well. And truth be told, I tend to think of Centennial and Columbus as being more floral than citrusy anyway, so perhaps that’s not too surprising. Taste again features new make booze, but the hops save the day. Like the nose, the hops are floral and almost spicy up front, but provide a more citrusy honey-like note towards the finish. Mouthfeel has a nice spiciness to it, a little heat too. Maybe that’s just may baby palate talking though, as all whiskey has a little harsh heat for me. Overall, this is a fascinating dram of whiskey here. The hops come through, but not quite in exactly the way I expected. Nevertheless, I enjoy drinking this and am quite happy with the purchase (despite the relatively high price tag). Beer Nerd Musings: Aside from several other Charbay variants on the theme, there are a bunch of other spirits that are distilled from drinking beer. There’s one called Son’s of Liberty that claims it starts as an IPA (not specified whether it’s a commercial version or one they make themselves) that is distilled, aged, and then dry hopped with Citra and Sorachi Ace (which are some pretty fantastic choices). This seems to mostly be a small distillery thing, and I do have to wonder how more mature whiskey would react. Apparently there’s a 12 year old version of distilled pilsner that was made for the LA Whiskey Society, and according to some reviews, the hop character has faded somewhat (or been overtaken by the oak, or both), even if it’s still described as excellent whiskey. I would be curious to see what other beers would make a good base for this sort of treatment. In terms of hoppy beer, I’d look at something like a Tired Hands or Hill Farmstead IPA. They both have super citrusy, juicy takes on the style (which I suspect is due partially to the yeast they use as well as the use of newer aroma hops). Would that character survive distillation? Or would that bright citrus turn into dank pine in time (nothing wrong with that either, to my mind)? Anchor made a spirit out of their vaunted Christmas beer called White Christmas, where I assume the spices would come through in the finished product. I suspect the barrels used for this whiskey would not be the best to use for beer. The subtle hop character would get blown away by big, assertive stouts, or would get lost in the mix of a hoppy barleywine and new make whiskey doesn’t quite integrate with beer as well as moderately aged stuff. That being said, there’s really only one way to find out. I’m clearly not an expert on this stuff.