Feb 26, 2016

Stone Brewing Southern Charred

Stone Brewing’s Double Bastard is a wonderfully hoppy American Strong Ale that I am a fan of cellaring — it really becomes something special when laid down for a few years. That said, whenever the company releases a special variant of that big brew, I tend to enjoy them fresh more often than not. And such was the case with Southern Charred, a Kentucky bourbon barrel aged take on the beer.

The 2015 version of Southern Charred weighs in at a hefty 12.7% ABV and was aged in the previously mentioned barrels fro an undisclosed number of moths. The result displayed everything that I love about the base beer with just the right amount of barrel influence to make this a special off-shoot. The big malt backbone of Double Bastard is there along with plenty of warming, boozy bourbon traits, some wood and a hint of vanilla before all of the goodness is awash with hop bitterness.

I can certainly see this one doing fairly well with a little cellaring as well, but when it tastes this good right now, why wait?