Woody Barrelson Imperial American Brown Ale by Otherside Brewing

This week’s beer is from Fremantle’s Otherside Brewing.   It’s an experimental release, and it’s an imperial American brown ale called Woody Barrelson.

I had the good fortune to visit Otherside in person at the very beginning of this year before the world descended into the depths of the plague and normal life hit a fairly serious global speedbump.  Woody Barrelson hadn’t yet been released at that point, but I must say, the rest of their range is absolutely top notch.  Feel free to have a look back at the details of my Otherside visit as well as their excellent DDH Hazy if you feel so inclined.

Woody Barrelson is an amalgam of few different styles of beer.  At its heart, this is an American brown ale (and the first brown ale of any type for the blog).  And it’s a damn good brown ale at that.  The dark roasty malts give it an amazing warm flavour.  If it stopped there, I would still consider this a very good beer.  Oh, but there’s more.

As you’re savouring Woody Barrelson’s brown ale core, the sweet boozy bourbon and rum hints from the barrel-aging well up from underneath.  It’s not overpowering like some barrel-aged beers can be.  It’s perfectly complementary and very much feels like it belongs with the roasty brown core.

Finally, there’s a nice little hoppy bite that swings through at the end.  Having already delicately balanced the brown ale and the barrel-aged characteristics, one might be concerned that adding a hoppy kick would be a bridge too far.  Not the case here at all!  Not only does the hoppy kick work, it tastes like it was always meant to be part of this beer.

This beer has a bit of a hit on the booze front. And that’s something you might well expect with the word ‘Imperial’ in the title. It comes in at a more than respectable, but not overbearing 8.0%.  But like virtually every other component of this beer, the booze level tastes right about exactly where it should be.  I know it’s an ‘experimental’ release, but I’m struggling to see what about this beer they could be refined or improved. It just works on every level and it’s delicious.

Woody Barrelson ticks so many boxes: roasty warm brown ale, sweet boozy barrel-aged bourbon flavour, and unexpected, awesome hoppy finish.  It would have been easy (and even forgivable) to miss the mark when trying to meld all those flavours and styles.  But the good people at Otherside found a way to blend them seamlessly.  None of the flavours feel extraneous or out of place.  This experimental release is an unequivocal success.  I’m sincerely hoping it graduates beyond experimental status and joins their core range.