Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Barleywine

Brewed By: Central Waters Brewing Co. in Amherst, Wisconsin

Purchased: 12oz single bottle bought at West Lakeview Liquors in Chicago, IL; 2013 

Style/ABV: American Barleywine, 11.2%

Reported IBUs: ?

I'm finally getting around to pop this blog's Central Waters cherry. Oh, and I'll be reviewing their barrel-aged cherry Stout soon. Central Waters was founded in 1996 by two friends, Mike McElwain and Jerome Ebel. The two bought an old brick building in Junction City, Wisconsin. During the next two years, the two restored the building, and put in brewing equipment. A few months later, Paul Graham joined the brewery. After three years under the original ownership, the brewery was sold to brewer Paul Graham and home-brewer Clint Schultz. On the brewery's five-year anniversary, Central Waters purchased a new brew house because the old location was having issues with equipment and age. In 2006, Clint Schultz left the brewery. The brewery is currently owned and operated by Paul Graham and Anello Mollica. To read more about the brewery, check out their history page.

Tonight's beer is part of the Brewer's Reserve Series. This particular beer is aged for a full year on used bourbon barrels, and features flavors of dark fruits and wood. This should be pretty tasty, so let's see what's up.

Central Waters Bourbon Barrel Barleywine

This one pours with a dark reddish-caramel body that picks up some brown and amber depending on the lighting. The dark body obscures the carbonation, but this one looks to have some decent carbonation in the cetner of the glass. This beer kicked up a finger of tan/butterscotch head, but it quickly faded into a nice cauldron effect. As you can imagine, there are some legs on this, and there is some lacing as well.

The aroma on this beer is all kinds of awesome, with huge oak, bourbon, butterscotch, pecans, resinous grapefruit, fat citrus, sugary malts, caramel/toffee, and big boozy fruits ala a Quad. There's probably some raisins and dates on the nose for good measure as well.

This is a huge fucking beer. This is chewy, dense, and full-bodied. You get big candy citrus, raisins/dates, bourbon, oak, toffee, plums, pecans, maple syrup, and pine sap with the thick and dense body. There's a lot of bourbon in this, and it is awesome. 

My only gripe with this is that it occasionally veers into sugar/candy land, but there is some woody hop bitterness that shows up like the police to crash that house party and maybe beat up some minorities. There's also the whole bourbon thing, which provides a counterpoint to all the sweetness. Again, at 11.2%, this is a sipping beer...and it works as one with a big chewy mouthfeel, and lots of sticky sweetness. This has good carbonation, and it's not infected or anything. Cough. Cough. Palate depth is amazing, complexity leaves a bit to be desired. Up front: oak, bourbon, wood, boozy fruits, raisins, toffee, plums; this rolls into more bourbon, resinous hops, citrus, pine sap, maple syrup; the back finishes sweet, with some booze, a little alcohol heat, and a sticky bourbon finish.

Rating: Divine Brew

Me gusta un Light Divine Brew. This beer isn't for everyone, but if you like huge bourbon character in your beer, and big sugary Barleywines, this is for you. I suspect this one will age fantastically, so if you can, grab a few bottles to throw in the cellar. As far as Central Waters' Brewer's Reserve series goes...this is by far the best beer in it. Personally, I wouldn't pair this beer with many foods...maybe a slice of pecan pie...this is a beer that deserves your attention in a snifter, or would work with a cigar. Single 12oz bottles of this were going for around 4.99-5.99. That's not bad. 

Random Thought: Coming up: Peruvian Morning. I thought the cries of infection for this year's batch were bunk, but Central Waters appears to have confirmed an infection. That's a damn shame, but we'll take a gamble and see how that one shapes up in a couple of days.