15th Anniversary
Drake’s Brewing Company in San Leandro, California, United States 🇺🇸
Lager - Imperial Pils Special Out of Production|
Score
7.54
|
|
A 15th anniversary recipe needs to be unique since so few breweries make it to their 15th year. For this recipe our head brewer Rodger Davis decided to throw out the style guidelines and create his own style. So he fused the finest ingredients, his relentless passion for good beer and topped it off with a bit of creativity. The beer is then aged in a bourbon barrel for 10 months creating a beer that is worthy of drinking for future anniversaries.
Sign up to add a tick or review
8.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
Small yellowish rim over ruby-highlighted deepbrown beer. Vinous, liqueur-ish, brandy-like nose. Some roasted malts notes, a truckload of brandy/distilled notes, woody, oak, and, of course, specifically Bourbon. Immediately warming, vanilla and oak tinted taste, sweetened milk with brandy, raisins-smitten, and molasses, but the last blending in perfectly with fruity notes from all kinds of forbidden, exotic dark fruit. Rich, luxurious, viscous fluid; alcoholexplosion in the throat. This is a "lager" - bottomfermenting for the pro’s. I know scores of original Doppelbocks, that ought to look here to know how it could be done (better). Many, many thanks to RodgerD for this series
Tried
on 21 Mar 2007
at 17:02
7.1/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 7.5
Thanks to droopy49 for sending this rare gem! Pours clear medium brown with virtually no head. Caramel and coffee with lots of bourbon in the aroma. Moderately sweet start to finish almost a thinned down English Barleywine.
Tried
on 06 Dec 2006
at 09:04
7.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
Bottle pours a hazy medium amber with a small but sticky head and lacing. Aroma is a sweet dark malty flavor. reminecent of a barlywine. Flavor is also rather malty, brown sugar, raisons and the notes of the bourbon barrell that it was aged in. Softly carbonated and a very nice full smooth palate. Thanks Jordan.
Tried
from Bottle
on 03 Sep 2006
at 21:34
7.6/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 8.5
Bottle. Brown beer with no head. Vanilla and bourbon aroma with some sweet malt. Vanilla, oak, and some fruitiness with malt backing. Bourbon not overpowering - still gives the most character, but doesn’t dominate. Nice. Hides alcohol well. Low carbonation. --- Beer merged from original tick of 15th Anniversary on 11 Jul 2005 at 19:29 - Score: Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9.5. Original review text: Draft. Rich ruby-amber beer with no head. Big fruity aroma (berry) with some malt. Berry (cherry/strawberry) flavor with malts and some alcohol. Rich and delicious. Easy to drink, full bodied. There’s a lot going on and this shows a lot of depth and complexity.
Tried
from Bottle
on 29 Jul 2006
at 15:49
7.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 7
Texture 6
Overall 8
Bottle courtesy of Tever. Cellared for a few weeks and fridged for 30 minutes. Little 6oz nip poured into a small glass. Poured a dark ruby red with visible carbonation. Can only see through the beer when you put it opposite a light. Medium head that quickly dissipated into a thick lacing. Aroma is strong and nothing like a Lager. This means I may enjoy it actualy. Smell is more like a doppelbock. Strong doopelbock-malt aroma with hints of bourbon/oak underneath that. Alcohol - particularly the bourbon - present in the aroma. Taste is subdued for something this strong. Definite bourbon/oak taste - interesting but a bit of a turn off as well. Some meatiness (not smoke) in there as well. Leaves an oak-y cola like aftertaste. Definite burn in the throat, HOT. Low bitterness. This is one of the more oak present beers I have had (this and Avery Samuels). Whoever thought of making a Lager that may need to age, what will they think of next?
Tried
from Bottle
on 19 Jul 2006
at 23:28
8.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
Murky mud brown color with almost no head. Bourbon aroma with a strong hint of alcohol. Taste is of bourbon and grapes, caramel malt and alcohol. Having tasted this after the stronger barleywine, it does not hide the alcohol nearly a s well. --- Beer merged from original tick of 15th Anniversary on 15 Feb 2007 at 18:40 - Score: Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9. Original review text: 1L bottle of my favorite style from BeerGuy101! A huge thanks Mitch!!! Nose of caramel malt, some yeast, and a dark fruit note; Slighty hazy rust color with a medium beige head; Taste heavy with caramel malt, some lagerish grainy notes, and light raisiny accents; nice syrupy body and light alcohol finish. Too bad I’ll probably never get another bottle!!!
Tried
on 09 Apr 2006
at 17:28
8.4/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
Courtesy of a travelling colleage. This is a really interesting style of beer. Pours reddish brown.mahogany color that is nearly opaque. More light comes through toward the top of the glass. Thin beige head that dissipates steadily, and spotty lacing. Rich aroma of malt, dark fruits and spices. The bourbon barrel really seems to add a nice texture to the aroma too. Full body with a strong array of malts and fruit flavors. Alcohol is steady and never overpowering despite the high ABV. The finish is very flavorful and lasting, with plum and malt aftertaste. 6 ounces of this disappeared far too quickly.
Tried
on 10 Mar 2006
at 16:28
7.3/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 7
Bottled. Thick clear pale brown. Madeira-like oaky nose. Sweet and fruity, perfumy and liqueur-like. Full bodied with thick mouthfeel. Hints of apples. or rather calvados. Complex flavours, even though the barrel flavours dominate. Unique.
Tried
from Bottle
on 14 Feb 2006
at 02:32
6.5/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 7
Flavor 6
Texture 6
Overall 7
Golden-brown colour. Slight haze, no head and no visible carbonation. Big malty aroma with fruity notes...hey this strong and I’ll let it slide a bit. Fair bit of bourbon nose as well. Big. Just big. Soft body with hints of maple, oak, bourbon, and rich malts. Warming and smooth, if a bit hot in the finish.
Tried
on 12 Feb 2006
at 04:06