Barrel Reserve Series #01

Bottle. Aroma is wood, bourbon, cinnamon, dark fruit. Low carb, Xmas pudding, light booze, fruity, little sweetness, Belgian feel. It's nice, but not wildly exciting.

Dark brown color. Molasses, rum, dark chocolate, cinnamon and cloves in the nose. Very low carbonation, smooth, slightly boozy, after one year the flavors have melded. Tastes like Christmas in a bottle. Slight sour. Slightly oaky, molasses, clove, plums and cinnamon in the finish. Pretty good dessert beer. Good for a night cap by the fire in the winter time.

AJB #1 is a 10% dark spiced beer made with cinnamon & nueg and aged in bourbon barrels. It was then bottle conditioned with a belgian yeast strain. When I first received this beer last January, I thought this sounds perfect for Christmas so I’ve saved it until now and pouring a deep ruby brown verging on black with virtually no head. The aroma is really quite good with sweet malty caramel fudge, bourbon and some hints of spice. It’s got a luscious full body and a great sweet flavor. The taste is chocolate syrup, berry hits, a touch of molasses, bourbon and spices in the finish/aftertaste. A bit undercarbed but man this is one of the best beers I’ve had in this series. It’s sweet, bourbon, oak, molasses, chocolate syrup and the memory of the spices that were used. Really good.

Decent barley wine type beer. Smoke and some caramelized malt. Sweet finish with some tang. Brown pour with ok head and lacing. Bottle shared at tasting.

Bottle at Travlr’s DC Departure RateBeer Tasting. Courtesy of jc1762, thanks Jon! Dark brown with tan head. Aromas of sweet whiskey, spices, oak. Tastes of whiskey, caramel, oak, dark fruit. Medium body with a dry finish.

From a bottle at the RateBeer gathering 9/9/16. Pours a cloudy cola with an ecru head, Aroma of toffee. Flavors of spice and leather.

Bottle courtesy of jc1762 at my DC Departure Tasting, thanks! Clear ruby maroon color. Aroma of lightly boozy coffee. Taste has burnt caramel and coffee. OK.

Bottle. Nose of spice, tart fruits, apple, cherry, nuts, vanilla, booze. Some chili maybe? Cloudy, almost black, with lace. Flavors of chocolate, cinnamon,pear, apple, cake mix. A bit phenolic. Somewhat thin body and a bit too flat. Ok.

Bottle shared at "Tokyo Ratebeer Dark Tickers of The World Unite or AJB tasting volume 1" event. Pours a cloudy, muddy brown with almost no head. Cinnamon stick, bark, grass, chocolate and vanilla on the nose. More bark and cinnamon stick as it warms. Average carbonation with a rich and full flavor masked in a medium body. Very drinkable for the abv. Cinnamon and ginger burn on the finish. Very unique and interesting way to start the series. Looking forward to the rest. --- Beer merged from original tick of Barrel Reserve Series #1 on 05 Mar 2016 at 20:12 - Score: 7. Original review text: Cinnamon and oak.

Poured into a teku showing dark black center with sediments and translucent coffee brown rims. The nose shows a lot of sweet caramel somewhat dark and roasted malts with bold notes of raisin and cinnamon. The palate is very lightly carbonated and full bodied. Flavors of raisins, caramel, lightly roasted malts, with hints of cinnamon. Moderately sweet throughout that is backed up with a alcohol spice. Definitely a dessert beer.