Barrel Edition: Whisky (2022)

End of 2022, Stroom acquired a few wooden barrels, one previously containing Irish whiskey and the other rum, and created an ‘ad hoc’ quadrupel to mature it in. The result was bottled in 75 cl bottles, for sale at the brewery’s taproom; this rating concerns the whiskey edition. Shared with Katia Warny, cheers! Greyish pale beige, dense, moussy, somewhat irregular but surprisingly stable head (for this type of beer) on a misty bronze-brown robe with ruddy burgundy glow. Aroma of lots of vanilla-scenting oak wood, candi sugar, caramel, indeed clear whisky, hint of toast, dried prunes, ‘kramiek’, hazelnut, toffee, cookies, dry tea leaves. Sweet onset, clear dark candi sugariness but not sticky, fruity notes of fig, raisin, pear and slight banana, rather fizzy but luckily fine-bubbled carbonation, full and rounded body; caramelly, hazelnutty, brown-bready malt core, sweet with a toasty bitterish edge, almost Scotch-like. Lots of drying, even slightly astringent woody tannins with lovely retronasal ‘vanilla’ from the oak wood, plus clearly warming whisky booziness, paired with a leafy hop bitter accent and lingering caramelly and brown-bready maltiness. The whisky is quite outspoken here, but still fits into the whole well. Generally speaking a powerful, boozy, rich quad, probably very suitable for extended cellaring. Well done.

2/XII/22 - 75cl bottle @ Stroom brewery, BB: n/a (2022-1712)

Clear deep red brown beer, small creamy beige head, pretty stable, a bit adhesive. Aroma: lots and lots of banana, alcohol, lots of whisky, the whisky is very present, some vanilla notes, phenols, a little chemical even medicinal touch. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: bitter start, lots of alcohol, banana peel, caramel, dried fruits, wood, tannins, alcohol. Aftertaste: very bitter, dry, woody, tannins, spicy, some dried fruits, dusty, banana peel, a bit chemical.