I had been looking forward to trying this beer since I missed the release by 1 week while touring Oregon in the middle of September. As soon as my local beer store announced it's arrival I went and picked up one. I would have liked a couple more but with a $30 price tag (would have only cost $12 in Bend). This beer is only bottled once every ten years so we will have to wait till 2020 for the next one. There is a funny story as to how this beer was discovered. Every year the Deschutes brewery brews a winter beer called the Super Jubel. Well one very cold evening a would be burglar broke into a storage facility to abscond with a keg of beer (must have been drunk). Well they didn't bring a way of getting it home he / she was just going to carry it. Anyone who has ever needed to move a keg knows they are freaking heavy. Well they didn't get very far before abandoning it outside. The next day with the beer nearly frozen they found it and moved it back inside where they wondered what it would taste like like any good brew master they tapped it and the rest is history.
With it's dark color and high alcohol content 10% ABV this beer is one you should sit and enjoy over a couple of hours. It pours black and rich with a surprisingly thin golden head that dissipated quickly. With big rich coffee like textures and a sweet finish that is subtly changing as it warms up. They age this beer in Oregon Oak Pinot Noir barrels before bottling to give it a little more dimension. I think I was suffering a little bit of sticker shock as I consumed this beer and was maybe unduly critical while tasting. But having only paid this much once before for The Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout 12th Anniversary (the best single bottle I've ever had BTW) I was expecting a lot more of everything for the price.
No comments:
Post a Comment