Monday, October 10, 2011

Odell Woodcut No. 4 Marzen-style lager

All thanks and praises go to Dave Anderson (not Farmer Dave, different Dave Anderson), for bringing me this expensive bottle from the Woodcut series, for my birthday. Three months and then some later, I finally cracked it. Here come the notes:


Odell Woodcut No. 4: Oak Aged Lager. 
"Our first lager offering in the Woodcut Series, Woodcut No. 4 boasts a refined malt base with a delicate spicy finish. Aged in virgin American oak barrels, this burnished copper colored double marzen-style lager emphasizes toasted cedar, new oak, vanilla, and almond in the bouquet. Each woodcut offering is a truly limited-edition beer with a unique flavor that comes from select hops, fine malted barley and our brewers' careful aged process. Enjoy." Bottle No. 0940, May, 2010.
ALC by VOL, 11%. (Yikes.)

Burnt copper coloring, under a thin, off-white layer of foam. 

Rich malty aromatics, oak, vanilla, and cherries. Sweetness heightened by alcohol presence. 

Taste: All that and more on the palate. Cherry turns to brandy, cognac, leather, dark rum. Getting rougher and tougher, feeling more like a barley-wine lager. Oak-aged double oktoberfest, huh? Genius. Big and beefy, but also lovely and luscious.

Hot liquor roars along the palate and coats the throat, getting hotter as we go. Becomes a big, malty bruiser, keeps company in the mouth, sets a spell, rests luxuriously…and then it comes…boom, boom, boom, boom. This is one bomber that should be split three ways, at least. But I can't write these notes while being properly sociable, so I take one for the team. Team Bitter Nib, going all the way to document the total beer experience. 

Perhaps I should have saved this for a moment or two, it's just not cold enough for a brew this hot. In a few weeks to a month, this would really come in handy. Says the guy who just decided to open up an Imperial Stout next...

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