A nightcap for the summer solstice 2025. Unfortunately, the day has been very rainy and gray, hence, no long-lasting lightness observed this time. This is a Russian Imperial Stout Woodford Reserved Bourbon Barrel Aged. A beautiful malt bliss! Deep black and oily is the appearance. Moves sluggishly. Lame carbonation, doesn't even hiss when opening the bottle. Date, fig, cacao and vanilla find my nose first. Molten chocolate ganache pours on the main crew. The taste profile is incredible! Colossal Bourbon is heavily warming and somewhat biting on the tongue. Alcohol is definitely not boozy but not absent either. Challenging! Thick dark chocolate ganache with an enormous cocoa content is the second entrant, won't leave you untouched. More obscure components include caramel, vanilla, syrup and a touch of date. Powerful barrel notes elevate nicely towards the end. The body is full. The finish is fairly similar to the actual palate but maybe one or two smaller elements are dropped off. The mouthfeel is truly robust, intense, super deep, complex, rich and layered. Sticky, thick, warming, barrel aged, a tad alcoholic. Awesome. 🖤🖤🖤

Now a nightcap. Something scary... and absolutely perverted: a freeze-distilled APA. 13 %. Gosh! Can a freeze-distilled APA even theoretically succeed? Let's try. Looks limpid, medium-brown with a ruby reflection and subdued carbonation releases an impotent lacing that retreats almost immediately to the sides and soon melts away completely. A weird fragrance! Spruce tip gives a combined impression of mold and faint eucalyptus. Raisin shakes hands with fortified plum wine. Furthermore, notes of vanilla, caramel, Bourbon and oak barrel hover in the background. Really unique and much less repulsive than I was afraid of. Massive thick sweetness in the mouth! Date, caramel, brown sugar, dried plum, raisin on one hand. A bit of cacao nibs, too. Powerful spruce tip on the other. Moldy. A faint remnant of eucalyptus on the back of the tongue. Bourbon is astonishingly copious in its own beautiful barrel context. Vanilla is not particularly weak either. Wow! I really can't blame this for the lack of innovativeness! Shall it carry all the way up to the victory? We'll see. The body is full. Ni-ni-ni-nice!! Ends with powerful warming Bourbon, a barrel slam, spruce tip and several sweet sugary flavors of the earlier experience. Feels full, sticky, strongly warming, barrel aged, intense, deep and relatively rich. Adventurous. As a matter of fact, this level of boldness and courage merits +0.5 extra stars.

My 7️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣th beer in Pint Please!! Yay! 🍻 Therefore, something unique! A Bourbon Barrel Aged Eisbock with a staggering 19 %. A deep dark brown beer – almost black in a certain lighting – flows fluently to the glass. Very opaque but not turbid. Somewhat oily. The carbonation is suppressed. A modest beige lacing is formed on the top but it dies rushedly away. A beautiful balance in the air: hefty fruity Bourbon with its accompanying vanilla and powerful oak barrel notes meet dried plum, date, fig and raisin. An appealing tone of caramelized sugar swings underneath. The taste gives immediately a strong signal that it's not joking. Colossal Bourbon dominates the gustatory universe. Warmth spreads into every nook of my mouth. A soaked oak barrel nuance is substantial. Date, brown sugar, vanilla and raisin, maybe also a hint of dark chocolate can be identified on the tongue. Alcohol doesn't really taste but can certainly be felt as a warming, even tingly feeling in the throat. Oh mama!! I need mercy that I don't get! The body is full. Can't be anything else. The finish bursts with massive Bourbon and barrel notes, followed by smaller amendments of date and raisin. The mouthfeel is overwhelming: full as hell, thick, distinctly barrel aged and deep. Super warming! Alcohol can be sensed. Absolutely. It's also lip-glueing and mouthcoating. Whooaaah! Very seductive. And very Barleywine-like. Still nice and pleasant although I can imagine that this is truly divisive. A slow sipper, for sure.

After-sauna enjoyment. Definitely a slow beer. This is a Freeze-distilled Russian Imperial Stout that has rested in rum barrels for two years. That's something! Adjuncts include coffee beans and orange peel. The ABV stands at a staggering 17.4 %. Unreal! Pours thick, oily black. Opaque. The carbonation is truly introverted and fails to create a lacing in the first place. Sweet-leaning coffee meets roasted malt in the scent. Rum escorts, not so discreetly, leaving oak barrel nuances and more timid cane sugar lingering in the air. No alcohol in the olfactory sphere. Fairly pleasant so far, not offensive at all. Sipping crude oil... Fortunately doesn't taste like oil. Coffee is fairly ample in the taste profile. A bit sweet-leaning indeed. Impressive rum and rum soaked oak barrel unlock distinctly alcoholic notes for the taste receptors to cope with. Cane sugar, a whisper of caramel and roasted malt loom in the corridor, ready to step in. Alcohol can't be missed, it doesn't disturb the experience but definitely lends a pleasant warming sensation to every nook of the mouth. The body of a beer of this ABV must be full. Really full. And it is. Full. Not just full but huge. Yeah. The tail waves in synchrony with rum and rum barrel, roasted malt and actually pretty much all the familiar components of the gustatory sector. The mouthfeel is, first and foremost, big, sticky and warming. And barrel aged, no doubt. Moreover, it's intense, deep and slightly roasty. Demanding. No mercy. A slow beer. Chilled is an aggression in this case. Better take it out of the fridge and leave it on the table for a good while before going this road. That's the way forward.

A beer to top off my purchase of a set of freeze-distilled beers @ WFP19. The style is Brett Ale. Pint Please doesn't have such a style, Brett Ales are here most likely Sour Ales or perhaps Saisons in a few cases. This is even a triple version, the ABV clocks a whooping 11.5 %. Flavored with passionfruit. Sounds demanding... and risky. 😬 The appearance is typically overripe: semifoggy, light brown. The carbonation gives up with a subdued soapy lace ring that dwindles hastily to a hair-thin version of itself. The nose is prepared for a nasty punch. White wine. Not bad. And passionfruit. Considerably farmhousey, sheep barn, hay stack. Generally speaking, quite ripe. Resembles Lambics. This is getting interesting! The taste is a combination of passionfruit juice, powerful white wine, overripe orange, green apple, wheat malt, maybe a hint of raw green gooseberry. Brett is very skillful but not particularly delicate though. Surprisingly, alcohol is totally undercover. Like I said earlier, this resembles Lambics, even the complexity is not zero. All in all, very enjoyable! 🧡🧡 The body is medium-full. Ends with very winey but also ripe fruity flavors. Not much different from upfront componentwise. Feels medium-full, vinous, a tad funky, relatively intense, deep, somewhat complex. Astonishingly Belgiany. And naturally flat. Despite all the warning signs, this is a truly positive sample. If this was bottled in a luxury champagne type of a bottle, maybe even with a wax cap, instead of a can, this could easily go for 30€. Thanks a bunch for the free-of-charge piece! 🙏🏻

This is my last beer at this festival. The congestion starts to be uncomfortable, time to leave the venue. Maybe I'll be back sometimes in the future. But before I leave, let me finish one more freeze-distilled Quadrupel. With 17 %. Not bad, right? Basically transparent, oily black beer. The foam pretty much vanishes before it emerges on the surface. Vanilla, cacao nibs and syrup in the scent. Strong barrel notes. Bourbon hits my tastebuds like a thousand volts. Fruity. Vanilla forward. Ample syrup, dark chocolate and marginal date. Not too many elements though. I anticipated more. A bit of a disappointment maybe? The mouthfeel, anyway, is medium-strong, medium-full, somewhat deep, slightly alcoholic and warming. A decent way to end this event.

Freeze-distilled beer. This brewery is famous for them! The color is murky, deep dark brown to black. No head as one could expect. Rum and rum barrel in the air. Cane sugar, date, raisin, dark plum, as well. Sweet powerful taste. Not oversweet though. Rum dominates the taste profile. Additional components include raisin, purple plum, a bit of date, dark chocolate and barrel notes. A huge beer! Feels really full, thick, sticky, warming, deep, rich and somewhat complex. A real delicacy! 🖤🤎🖤

Bier Nummer 700! Wow, was für ein Brett! Das Firn No14 liegt bei etwa 20€ und ist mit Abstand das Teuerste, das mir in den Verkostungskelch gekommen ist. Das Bier mit einem edlen Stoffetikett mit Glitzer-Aufdruck! Dank geht raus an meinen ehemaligen Kollegen Tim, der mir diese Flasche aus einem Urlaub mitgebracht hat. Das Aroma wird beherrscht von Malz, schwerem Rotwein und roten Früchten - ich meine Pflaume und Rosinen zu erkennen. Die Optik ist komplett blumenlos und absolut dunkel wie die Nacht. Im Antrunk setzt sich die schwere Süße auf den Gaumen. Das Bräu fließt zähflüssig wie italienischer Espresso in den Mundraum. Durch die 17% Alkohol ist der Geschmack intensiv, zwar alkoholisch, aber für mein Dafürhalten gut ausbalanciert. Neben der Malzsüße assoziiere ich Portwein, aber es gibt noch mehr: da ist Würzigkeit, schwere Süße, getrocknete Pflaumen und Rosinen und zum Abgang hin Zartbitter-Schokolade. Der Abgang hallt lange mit einem trockenen Mundgefühl nach. Nach dem Trinken fließt einem direkt das Wasser im Munde zusammen… Lecker! 5 Stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Kevyempiin tunnelmiin ja tiukempiin prosentteihin. Nyt tuli paha rasti, tuoksun perustana on wiskitynnyri. Kevyttä paahteista mallasta, kuivattuja ja kuivaamattomia hedelmiä, aavistus hunajaa🤔 Maun puolesta joutuu tyytymään tuoksun mukaiseen luonnehdintaan. Ensimmäisillä siemauksilla ihmettelee miten hyvin alko on peitossa, mutta kyllä se wiskin perus olemus paljastuu ennen puolimatkan krouvia. Hyvin hitaasti nautittavaa.