Revisiting

So today is a day of re-visitation for me. For the first time ever we're going to make the same recipe we've already made once before. Depending on the availability of cherries, we're going to make the Chewy Cherry Wheat again, or (more likely given how early in the year it is) we're going to make Aberinkula, our Imperial Brown Ale. This is my favorite beer we've made to date, and I'm really looking forward to seeing if we can replicate what we made the first time. This is the same beer we recently sent to the National Homebrewers Competition, which should be judged this week. It involved 8 lbs of grain, 6 lbs of extract, and 5 ounces of hops.

Meanwhile while I wait for Dan to get home so we can brew, I'm going back to the Dominion Oak Barrel Stout. I had this beer at a Superbowl party in 2009, and remembered that I really enjoyed it. I hadn't had it again since, and I wanted to see if it stacked up to the memory of it. Looking back at the review I posted, it actually is even better. There's no oily sensation to it or fast-food smell. The taste is still really good. I'm surprised a little bit, since I figured in the last year my palate would have changed at least some. All in all, it's nice to be able to go back to something and just enjoy it.

- Adam

Dominion Oak Barrel Stout

I picked up this beer for a superbowl party I was going to. I was actually looking for Brooklyn Brown, or something along those lines, but they were all out at State Line. I thought this 6 pack looked interesting, and since the price was right I went for it. Located in Ashburn, VA, beers from the Old Dominion Brewery are available only on the east coast. The brewery will be celebrating their 20th anniversary this year as well. One thing I found interesting was that on their website they claim to follow the German Purity Law, which specifies that the beer can only be brewed with barley, malt, yeast, water, and hops. However their stout is brewed with wheat as well, and their Millennium beer has honey added. I'm not sure how this follows those guidelines.

All that aside, the Oak Barrel Stout is brewed with 7 different kinds of malt, and 2 kinds of hops. The beer is then dry hopped with toasted oak chips and vanilla beans. Going into it, I was looking forward to a beer that had a complex flavor profile, and possibly a few unusual characteristics.

The beer poured a very dark brown color, almost black in appearance. It wasn't cloudy, but it was just so dark that you can't see light through it. Think murky. It had a foamy one finger light tan head that dissipated relatively quickly to a quarter finger thick. The head that did remain left a decent lacing on the glass.

The aroma had a toasted malty sweetness to it, but there was an oily quality to it as well. Kind of like how you'd expect a fast food restaurant to smell if they have a deep fryer. It wasn't strong at all, but it's presence threw me a bit. All in all though, the aroma wasn't all that strong, especially considering the way the beer was brewed. The sweetness was expected, but I was also anticipating vanilla, wood, anything to indicate the unusual ingredients in the beer.

The taste is where this beer really started to stand out. A sweet toasted/roast flavor is dominant, reminding me of tasted marshmallows. On the back of the tongue, a smooth coffee-like bitterness sits lightly in the mouth. The balance is just great. On the side of the tongue there's a hint of salt, but it's not at all strong. The vanilla comes through just a touch in the aftertaste in a very pleasant way. Even though the beer isn't all that strong, there's a warmth present, possibly from one of the ingredients rather than the alcohol. Some smokey flavors exist in there as well. There's the slightest bit of a metallic taste in the back of the mouth as well, but it's not too distracting.

The beer is very carbonated, and that's probably the biggest strike against it. It's the sharp kind of carbonation that feels like needles in the mouth. Other than that, the beer has a medium body, just a little lighter than I would have anticipated. There's barely any coating on the mouth as it goes down.

All in all it's very smooth, and a nice mixture of sweetness and bitterness. The balance is just great. The smokey flavors remind me just a bit of the Aecht Marzen. It's not quite as good as Samuel Smith's Taddy Porter, or as drinkable as Guinness, but it's a nice change and has it's place among the stouts. The first was extremely easy to get down, but after that the sweetness can start to overwhelm the palate. The carbonation was a little over the top, but the robust flavor more than made up for it. I'd absolutely get this one again in the future.

- Adam