Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout | 6.9%

This is a fantastic wintry brew that I would love to sip in by an open fire with a majestic Newfoundland dog puddled at my feet. Just another beer that makes me want to go live in the forest like Spider Jerusalem at the beginning of Transmetropolitan.

Smooth and full bodied with a dark malt profile, this Anderson Valley stout has strong espresso and chocolate flavors and complex malt profile of aromatic dark roasts. But it’s roasty, never acrid or burnt. These good folk know what they’re doing.

This opaque brew spends three months morphing inside Wild Turkey barrels before spreading its boozy wings and fluttering en masse onto Bevmo shelves across the nation. Still, it offers a relatively lower level of bourbon and woodsy barrel flavors than I expected and as a forewarning to Real Ale purists it also has a lower ABV and higher carbonation than a standard American stout.

Hence would be a perfect choice for who maybe isn’t sure about porters and stouts. I tend to recoil from excess or boring malt sweetness but absolutely loved this roasted, rounded out flavor that somehow remained fresh and very drinkable. I’ll take 12 please.

Presentation:

• in a sturdy mug

• in the musky cabin your grandparents wrought with their own hands.

Pairing:

• a lumpy crocheted quilt and a heavy, fragrant book - something in set in rural Russia, the antebellum South, or Northern England.

• A 170 lb Newfoundland dog.

• A 170 lb Newfoundland dog smell.

• The dog's name is Percy.

Someone on RateBeer called this “girlie” so I guess a generous helping of manly man posturing would be splendid too but that’s just my ladybrain talking.

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