May 25, 2016

Lickinghole Creek Redneck Wedding

Lickinghole Creek (Goochland, VA) has released a few Belgian-style quadrupels over the past couple of years. Their Goochland Quadrupel Ale is good, but a bit on the rough side and the similarly named Redneck Soap Opera was, unfortunately, a spiced potpourri bomb. Thankfully, this big barrel-aged version of the brewery’s quadrupel does not follow its predecessors.

Redneck Wedding is a boozy 13.7% ABV beer that is brewed with candi sugar and the company’s house yeast before spending some time in retired bourbon barrels our of Kentucky. The result is a beer that is rich, not too sweet and packed full of smooth bourbon-y flavors. Distant spices linger with dark fruits (raisin, fig) as the barrel influence glides over the tongue.

I guess the third time is the charm with Lickinghole Creek’s quads. The balance between the base brew and barrel traits is just right as the wood and bourbon mingle comfortably with caramel, spices and yeast. I wasn’t expecting much when I first bought this bottle, but the brew shined wonderfully.