Brooklyn Hand & Seal
Brooklyn Hand & Seal is an English style Barleywine aged in Four Roses Bourbon Barrels.
The appearance is typical for the style, which is a fairly unattractive caramel brown color. The aroma has a lot of sweet caramel and surprisingly not much bourbon at all. The taste is very sweet with lots of caramel upfront. That initial rush of sweetness is followed by yet more sweetness from some notes of brown sugar, vanilla and toasted coconut. A noble attempt to balance courtesy of some dry and slightly bitter hops, but this is ultimately a sweet and decadent beer. Sadly the bourbon barrel seems very absent from the beer. If this wasn’t so good as it is that would be a huge disappointment, but this is one tasty beer.
High marks overall for me, and if you’re looking for a insane sugar bomb you might want to sit on this for another year or so.
