Pools Of Reflection (Batch #2)
(Batch of Pools of Reflection)
Private Press Brewing in Santa Cruz, California, United States 🇺🇸
Brewed at/by: Santa Cruz Mountain BrewingBarley Wine - Barley Regular
|
Score
7.94
|
|
Pools of Reflection is a blend that taps into my decade-long fascination with brewing maple beers. The base of this blend is a maple barleywine with Vermont grade B maple syrup. I brewed two separate versions of this beer, one with a hint of smoked malt and one without. After aging in a variety of bourbon barrels, I blended three smoked barrels and four non-smoked barrels together. Finally, I blended a barrel with 60% barleywine and 40% Viennawine into the tank. Pools of Reflection blend really opens in the first half hour, and releases bold notes of maple, brown butter toffee, flambéed banana, baking spice and toasted chestnuts.
Blend #2 (PPB-3Q402):
Bartz (barrel #242) aged 12 months in Elijah Craig 10 Year barrels
Bartz (barrel #243) aged 12 months in Elijah Craig 10 Year barrels
Bartz (barrel #244) aged 12 months in Old Elk Wheated barrels
Bartz (barrel #264) aged 9 months in Elijah Craig 18 Year barrels
Bartz (barrel #265) aged 9 months in Bookers barrels
Bartz (barrel #266) aged 9 months in Basil Hayden Subtle Smoke barrels
Bartz (barrel #267) aged 9 months in Basil Hayden Subtle Smoke barrels
3/5 Mahavishnu, 2/5 Herbolzheimer (barrel #308) aged 19 months in Heaven Hill barrels
2023 Release
Sign up to add a tick or review
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle at home. Pours deep ruby brown, nose is smoky, toffee, caramel, red berries, maple syrup, vanilla, taste is similar, warming and fruity up front, dry and smoky finish. --- Beer merged from original tick of Pools of Reflection (Batch 2) on 13 Sep 2024 at 08:42 - Score: 8
Smooth maple, big, some clear earthy hops up front. Pleasant roasty malt notes—brown raisin bread. Soft on the pull and warming but not boozy.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Poured from a 500 ml bottle. Aroma is malty with notes of toffee, dark caramel, and treacle. Lighter molasses and chocolate notes. Some toasted bread and hints of nuts. Medium light bourbon and light oak and alcohol notes. Pours a dark brown, almost black with a medium large, moderately thick, frothy, tan head that recedes quickly to a small film that lingers on the edges. No lacing and long legs. Flavor is somewhat sweet with lots of toffee and dark caramel. Lighter notes of chocolate, treacle and molasses. Hints of toasted bread. Low bitterness and medium low alcohol warmth. Moderately strong maple notes. Light bourbon and faint oak notes. Mouthfeel is full bodied with medium carbonation. Low astringency and medium low carbonation. Overall, a decent stout but it's overly carbonated and I'm worried that it's showing signs of a weird over fermentation. Maple syrup notes are nice but continuing to ferment out. Bourbon and oak are good and malt character is solid.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5
Sample during Blarney Wine Festival 2024 on 03/22/2024.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9.5
Bottle. Pours clear mahogany, small tan head, good lacing. Aroma is maple, fudge, bourbon, werthers. Flavor is medium sweet, light plus bitter. Kinda hot. Medium plus body. Nice maple expression. Grate. Brad, you are hitting on all cylinders.