Three thumpers from Brooklyn today (well, some time ago, I'm not insane), two of them once-off or recurring seasonal brews that may or may not be available anymore but some of you will read on anyway because, like me, you have an inexplicable and insatiable thirst for The Knowledge of Beer.
First up is Black Ops, a bourbon barrel aged version of the inimitable Black Chocolate Stout. The first impression upon getting it into a glass is that there is a serious wood influence here, with a strong and enticing maple syrup and vanilla aroma leading the way for an unsurprisingly sweet flavour to follow. The base of Black Chocolate Stout is there, with roasty sweet chocolate forming the core, but there's a pleasantly surprising strain of woodsmoke livening things up and cutting through the sugar. I enjoyed this, even if the inherent richness of the stout combines with the bourbon to produce something a tad sweeter than I'd usually look for in a barrel aged stout.
Next is Cuvée Noire, which seems a kind of a variant of the Black Ops. There seems to be two versions of this beer; a draught version of 8.7% ABV, and this limited bottled version under their BQE tagline, with a more generous strength of 10.6%.
The catch with this stout is it's Belgification; a higher attenuating Belgian yeast and the inclusion of brown sugar and sweet orange peel. For all that, thick dark chocolate is still the main flavour component, like rich mousse that finishes in a dried fruit flourish. There's considerable bourbon influence too, the vanilla wood propping things up nicely and helping smooth out a beer that is otherwise surprisingly spritely in it's carbonation. Disappointingly there's no real suggestion of orange that I can find, which leaves me with the impression that, soft yeasty dried fruitiness aside, I'm not sure there's much here that won't be found in Black Ops, but with added slickness. It's good, but I was hoping for a liquid Terry's Chocolate Orange that isn't there, and I guess that's more my problem than the beer's.
Sticking with bourbon barrels but moving away from black malts finds us another BQE release, their Hand & Seal barleywine from 2014, almost five years old at the time of cork-popping last month. This pours clear ruby with a thin cap of yellowy foam, not unlike my most indulged-in barleywine Bigfoot. Unsurprisingly it's sweet; a plush bouquet of red summer fruits leads to brown sugar and raisiny port. The flavour is much the same but with a good deal more woody vanilla. Thankfully there's none of the harshness or cloying effects of lesser bourbon aged beers, as this remains a shockingly easy to drink, sweet, boozy fireside sipper.
I've long been a fancier of Brooklyn's wares, their Black Chocolate Stout being a watershed moment for me in my discovery and subsequent obsession with strong stouts. For this reason there's a considerable amount of goodwill stored away in the memory bank, but it's good to see there's something to it. These beers range from 10.6% - 13.3% and none of them come off sticky, sickly or heavy. I appreciate that.
Take that as a tacit recommendation for all of these, especially the Hand & Seal.
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