Now this is something brand new all round. Our first crack at the Darach Mòr range and our first ever whiskey barrel aged brown ale. Let’s get stuck in.
Served in a shaker glass the dark brown pour produced a thin head that collapsed to a ring of brown foam around the inner edge of the glass. No lacing. Ooff! Instantly the aroma’s (due to the fact this ale was aged in 12 year old Islay whiskey barrels) offers up dense, dank and earthy wafts of rotting wood, tobacco, smoke, char, whiskey and oak. Complex and to be honest quite nauseating. The mouth feel is thin and watery with mild carbonation. Body is quite light on and literally feels like a weak bourbon and coke. Something we weren’t expecting after copping a whiff of this pungent aroma. Upfront the rich and astringent flavours of whiskey are really evident. Following on are complex smoky notes that move forward through the mid-palate and rounds off with a moist, oaky, woody and essentially saturated finish with lingering hints of flat cola. We consumed this beer at just below room temperature because we thought it would improve the flavour but to no effect. The 6% ABV is missing and quite low considering this is a barrel aged. Yes, there are points for creativity and craft brewing but it hasn’t hit the mark for us. We can’t say we enjoyed it all that much.