Here's one from the archives - the deep archives! I recently was cleaning out my computer and deleting old blog post photos, when I noticed these. I checked the blog and it looks like I never reviewed this! Mea culpa, amici, it's about time this gets its due. And mea maxima culpa to the fine folks at Fort George whose generosity made this review possible.
This is a 2015-vintage bourbon barrel aged version of Fort George Brewery's "Cavatica Stout" clocking in a 8.80% ABV. I've had the regular Cavatica Stout a bunch of times (my brother Dan used to send me pint cans of the stuff) but hadn't ever seen the special variants. I picked this up in August of 2015 when I visited Fort George Brewing Co. in Astoria, Oregon. I'm always a sucker for barrel-aged ales (especially barrel-aged, special release versions of beers I like!), so this was very attractive simply on spec. Because I still have my handwritten notes from that trip, I present the long-overdue review!
This beer is the regular Cavatica Stout aged in Willet bourbon barrels - according to the bottle, this is batch number 288. It comes in a 22oz bomber (that's 1 pint, 6 fluid ounces) sealed with a red wax neck that took quite a bit of work to remove. There must have been four layers of wax in there.
It pours a deep red / brown into a snifter glass and throws a slightly sweet aroma. It's black in the glass with a khaki-colored foam. As with most of these kinds of beer, I let it sit for a few minutes to let it warm up.
Immediately upon tasting, there's a strong wave of woodsy, bourbon sweetness that's really quite enjoyable. The texture is like chocolate milk, thick and rich, and the complexity comes through as the beer sits in your mouth. The flavors really develop nicely (I call it "blossoming") and there's a slight sweetness that builds on that woodiness. The finish and aftertaste are warming and full, and that flavor note lingers for quite some time.
I feel that the added depth given by the aging process has improved nicely on the regular Cavatica stout. Not to say it wasn't good to begin with, but this extra kick of aging adds a great wood note to the beer that avoids any undesirable heaviness or strong sugar flavors (that some other deep aged stouts do.) There's a marked absence of alcohol flavors, which in many ways reminds me of Founders' fantastic "Kentucky Breakfast Stout." If I recall, I served this beer with some Rogue River blue cheese and watched the sun set over Mount Rainier. I was definitely glad to try this, and can't find anything wrong with it besides its limited availability. Thanks, Fort George guys!
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