Williamsburg Alewerks Brewmaster's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Porter 2010

Not very often do we get to taste beers from small micro-breweries outside of our distribution region. Sure, we have access to some great ones (Voodoo) and some okay ones (Erie Brewing Co.) but it is always interesting to at least try the local flavors. While the local flavors might taste like dirt, fuck it, at least it isn't our options. So when Oz's dad traveled to Virginia and stumbled upon a brew from Williamsburg Aleworks from Williamsburg, Virginia, he found a brew that he hoped would sit proudly on his son's beer wall- Brewmaster's Reserve Bourbon Barrel Porter.

The 2010 BRBBP (the bottle is numbered 1966 of 2010) pours black with a light carmel head and smells of bourbon and malt. The taste is pure malt with a strong sence of oak and bourbon with an alcohol tinge left on the tongue. There are notes of chocolate and coffee but the flavors are overtaken by the bourbon and alcohol on the back end. The tinge is not completely unwelcomed but it makes this brew much more of a sipper than we'd like- and this is coming from big fans of sipping beers and alcohol in general.

There is much complexitiy hidden beneath this small town sipper but it is disappointing that they have to be extruded out beneath the quarry of alcohol. We aren't the ones to complain about too much booze in the brews but it just hinders any flavors from coming to the spot light. In previous blogs you will notice that many times we wished for more alcohol but sometimes a big beer is just too big. Now our mouths know how white women feel.

Oz Scale: 7.4

Mike Scale: 7.4