Brewed By: Widmer Brothers Brewing Company in Portland, Oregon
Purchased: Frosty 22oz Bomber purchased at Jewel in Chicago, IL; 2011
Style/ABV: American Strong Ale, 9.40%
In the spirit of summer, I'm saying fuck the status quo and drinking a Winter Warmer! Tonight's beer is a huge ass, barrel-aged, winter seasonal, Strong Ale. Clocking in at 40 IBUs and 9.4% ABV, I'm expecting something to make my palate happy. Summer? What's that. The "Barrel Aged BRRRBON '11" is brewed by the fine folks at the Widmer Brothers Brewing Company. I'm not a literary genius, but what's up with the name? "BRRRBON?" I'm guessing you are supposed to say it out loud, with a phonetic emphasis. So it sounds like, "BRRR-Bon," or "Brr-rrr-rrr, I'm cold, bon." They should call it "Shit will get you drunk-bon." I think it's more catchy.
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company is a brewery based out of Portland, Oregon. The brewery has humble roots, going back to 1979 when brothers Kurt and Rob Widmer began to homebrew beer they liked to drink for their family and friends. In 1984, Kurt and Rob quit their jobs, and built the Widmer Brewery in what is now the Pearl District of Northwest Portland. The brewery officially opened on April 2, 1984, and the brothers started brewing their Altbier and a Weizenbier. In 1986, a pub that was serving their beer asked the brewery to make a third beer; limited to just two fermenters, they decided to leave their Weizenbier unfiltered, and created the first American-Style Hefeweizen. Later that year, the brewery introduced their Festbier (a Bavarian Style Oktoberfest), and became the first U.S. brewery to offer a four-seasonal beer lineup. Since then, the brewery has continued to expand and has only added more accomplishments to their list. In 1988, the brewery (along with Bridgeport and Portland Brewing) launched the Oregon Brewer's Festival. In 1990, the brewery moved to its current location in North Portland, and in 1996, Widmer beers became available in bottles for the first time. You can read more about the company's history HERE: Click Me!
Lastly, according to Wikipedia, in November 2007, Reddhook Ale Brewery and Widmer Brothers merged, forming the Craft Brewers Alliance. Redhook previously distributed Widmer beers on the east coast; and Anheuser-Busch already held a minority stake in both companies. The Craft Brew Alliance is a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev. At the moment, AB InBev owns 32.2% of the Craft Brew Alliance, and the Widmer Brothers own a combined 18%.
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company is a brewery based out of Portland, Oregon. The brewery has humble roots, going back to 1979 when brothers Kurt and Rob Widmer began to homebrew beer they liked to drink for their family and friends. In 1984, Kurt and Rob quit their jobs, and built the Widmer Brewery in what is now the Pearl District of Northwest Portland. The brewery officially opened on April 2, 1984, and the brothers started brewing their Altbier and a Weizenbier. In 1986, a pub that was serving their beer asked the brewery to make a third beer; limited to just two fermenters, they decided to leave their Weizenbier unfiltered, and created the first American-Style Hefeweizen. Later that year, the brewery introduced their Festbier (a Bavarian Style Oktoberfest), and became the first U.S. brewery to offer a four-seasonal beer lineup. Since then, the brewery has continued to expand and has only added more accomplishments to their list. In 1988, the brewery (along with Bridgeport and Portland Brewing) launched the Oregon Brewer's Festival. In 1990, the brewery moved to its current location in North Portland, and in 1996, Widmer beers became available in bottles for the first time. You can read more about the company's history HERE: Click Me!
Lastly, according to Wikipedia, in November 2007, Reddhook Ale Brewery and Widmer Brothers merged, forming the Craft Brewers Alliance. Redhook previously distributed Widmer beers on the east coast; and Anheuser-Busch already held a minority stake in both companies. The Craft Brew Alliance is a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev. At the moment, AB InBev owns 32.2% of the Craft Brew Alliance, and the Widmer Brothers own a combined 18%.
The Barrel Aged BRRRBON '11 is a seasonal (winter) ale aged in bourbon barrels. Yum. This beer is described as being a "smooth winter warmer and the first release as part of the Alchemy Project." This beer was hopped during the secondary fermentation, and then put into Kentucky Bourbon Barrels and aged for four months. After barrel aging, the beer was alowed to ferment again for final conditioning before release (so this is maybe bottle-conditioned?). Brewed with Alchemy, Simcoe (bitter, aromatic, that catty note), and Cascade (citrusy, flowery, spicy, pleasant) hops; 2-Row Pale, Caramel, Carapils, and Dark Chocolate malt; this beer packs 40 Ibus and 9.4% ABV. What are Alchemy hops? Part of the "Alchemy Project." Evidently, Alchemy hops refer to a blend of hops (I've heard that the blend includes Warrior and Millenium). I'm excited, so let's crack this open and see what's up.
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| Barrel Aged Brrrbon 2011 |
The bottle art is probably love-it or hate-it. I actually am digging the bottle art, and it has some wax words like the Stone Brewing bottles. My bottle has a date on it: August 12, 11. And the bottle clearly says: "Prost! To improve with age." "Prost" literally means "cheers" in German. If this is good...I may go see if I can retrieve a few more bottles of this stuff. Anyway, the beer pours a nice dark red/copper color, with hints of orange. You can see a lot of tiny bubbles rising upwards, and even in lower light this beer is transparent. There were about two fingers of thin/sickly off-white head that pretty quickly dissolved into a nice cauldron effect. At 9.4% ABV, and being barrel-aged, it's no surprise the head peaced out so quickly. In low light the head is kind of reddish...in bright light it picks up the hints of orange from the body of the beer. This is kind of an orange/amber/copper/red beer. Big alcohol legs on this one, and some retention as the head pulls on the glass.
The nose is leaning towards a one-dimensional bourbon/wood flavor, but maybe not. This beer is hopped pretty intensely, and I'm getting aromas of grapefruit and citrus in the nose. I'm pulling out oak, wood, that whiskey-vanilla or oak-vanilla note, hints of sweet malt aromas, and that grapefruit/citrus note.
The taste is also leaning towards big oak/wood/vanilla notes. This is actually very woody on the finish, and the wood plays off the hops for a drying finish. I'm also feeling some warmness creeping up, just after my second sip. At 9.4%, that's not terribly unexpected. I'm pulling out some interesting hop notes in here: spice, earthiness, grapefruit, tangerine. But they run into the big oka/wood notes from barrel-aging this thing. Compared to New Holland's Dragon's Milk, this is almost a light beer. The Caramel malt this is brewed with is typical for an IPA. This also uses some Pils malt, some Pale malt, and some Dark Chocolate malt. I'm not getting a whole lot of malt in here. I am getting a little spice though: a peppery note. And there are these weird candied notes probably playing off the vanilla notes and the hops.
At 9.4% ABV, this is surprisingly drinkable. This has softer carbonation, but is moderately carbonated. The finish is oaky and dry, and reminiscent of drinking bourbon. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thin: this is medium-light. For a Winter Warmer clocking in at 9.4%, I almost expect a little more in terms of mouthfeel. Palate depth is good, and complexity is moderate. Up front you get a wave of hops and bourbon/oak/barrel; the middle rolls into more oak, with hints of some spice (I'm not getting a hint of leather); the back end is woody, slightly bitter, slightly hoppy, and dry. Initially I got some warming, but not so much now.
The taste is also leaning towards big oak/wood/vanilla notes. This is actually very woody on the finish, and the wood plays off the hops for a drying finish. I'm also feeling some warmness creeping up, just after my second sip. At 9.4%, that's not terribly unexpected. I'm pulling out some interesting hop notes in here: spice, earthiness, grapefruit, tangerine. But they run into the big oka/wood notes from barrel-aging this thing. Compared to New Holland's Dragon's Milk, this is almost a light beer. The Caramel malt this is brewed with is typical for an IPA. This also uses some Pils malt, some Pale malt, and some Dark Chocolate malt. I'm not getting a whole lot of malt in here. I am getting a little spice though: a peppery note. And there are these weird candied notes probably playing off the vanilla notes and the hops.
At 9.4% ABV, this is surprisingly drinkable. This has softer carbonation, but is moderately carbonated. The finish is oaky and dry, and reminiscent of drinking bourbon. The mouthfeel is surprisingly thin: this is medium-light. For a Winter Warmer clocking in at 9.4%, I almost expect a little more in terms of mouthfeel. Palate depth is good, and complexity is moderate. Up front you get a wave of hops and bourbon/oak/barrel; the middle rolls into more oak, with hints of some spice (I'm not getting a hint of leather); the back end is woody, slightly bitter, slightly hoppy, and dry. Initially I got some warming, but not so much now.
Rating: Average
I'm feeling a light Average on this. Would I pick this up again? Maybe. I don't see what makes this a winter warmer, other than the towering ABV, and the slight hint of spice. The idea of barrel-aging an American Strong Ale is interesting, and there are moments where the hops play off the oak notes in an enjoyable way. But then the thinness of the body kicks in...and you're reminded that this is not quite the sipping beer you want on that cold winter night. I don't know, maybe I'm way off base here. I'd actually rather drink this beer with a cigar while grilling some food. I bet you could pair this beer nicely with some smokey barbeque; something gamey. Chicken wings. Yum. Given how cheap a bomber of this beer is, I will say it is worth checking out if only because the risk is so low. So until next time, don't drink and calculate risk and reward ratios.
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