Brewery: Double Mountain Brewery & Taproom (Hood River, OR)
Beer: The Divine – 9th Anniversary Bourbon Barrel Aged Brown Ale
Style: Imperial/Double Brown Ale
ABV: 9%
Character: A Strong Brown Ale base aged in Woodford Reserve Bourbon barrels for the better part of a year.
Ratings: BA: — | RB:93
Metal Connection: ACHERON – Raptured To Divine Perversion
BeerMetal Rating: 4.5/5
Wow, 9 years for this brewery from Hood River, OR. Great job guys! I had never heard of this brewery until I received this beer in the mail. This is similarity #234525234 between the Metal world and Craft Beer world; that there are undiscovered entities out there, and everyday a new one is discovered. I want to send a huge thanks to my good buddy, Jorge Espinoza of animebeers.com for helping me get this beer.
Nothing really special about this label, but the beer speaks for itself in this case. The brewery went with a very simple design to get it’s point across on this Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Brown Ale. The overall feel of the label looks like a file card complete with signature lines. A grunge font is used for the large number 9 in red that is the main focus of this label. Under the nine, as I said there are signature lines which are for the beer name, style and abv% of this beer. Very simple, but point made!
I used an AleSmith Brewing Company logo snifter for this session. This 9th Anniversary beer poured near black, very dark brown, only seen when held up to the light. The head was a foamy khaki color, which was half of an inch wide. There wasn’t much retention, as the head quickly disappeared, leaving no lacing.
The aroma was wood-strong right away, followed by sweet milk, vanilla, brown sugar/molasses, black licorice, some black and white pepper, spices, and toasted coconut. There is a bit of booze and heat from the bourbon in the nose. The lingering aroma is that of black licorice, oak wood, and toasted coconut.
Tons of dark fruits hit the palate first, for me. Raisins and figs are dominant. Oak wood, sweet milk, vanilla, brown sugar/molasses, black licorice, black and white pepper, spices, and toasted coconut make up the body of flavor here. There is a nice boozy heat from the bourbon. The aftertaste was was dark fruit heavy with oak wood, and toasted coconut blended in.
The body was nice and heavy with a hot, slick and smooth mouthfeel. Mild to no carbonation. Finish wass also smooth and mouth coating.
You can tell there was a lot of love put into this beer to help the brewery celebrate their 9th anniversary. 9 years is a great goal to hit, but it’s not one of the more common over-celebrated anniversaries like a 10th or 15th, or 20th, so I know the beer they make for this year’s anniversary will be nothing short of spectacular. I am really hoping to get my hands on it, along with more of their regular year-round offerings.
I love Brown Ales, and love Bourbon barrel aged beers, so the combo of these two things made this beer extra special to me. The balance of flavors was amazing. The 9% Alcohol by Volume made this beer easier to swallow than most high ABV Bourbon barrel aged beers out there.
As I said earlier, this was my first encounter with this brewery, and it is a bit saddening to know that this brewery existed for 9 years before I even heard of it. I take a lot of pride in the Craft Beer knowledge I have, and I love discovering new breweries and beers daily. This one will be on my list of breweries I would like to visit one day. I really wish I could travel.
Metal Connection: I knew finding a Metal Connection would be a bit difficult, as using the word “divine” would find a high number of songs. After going through several choices, I finally picked the perfect choice. This Bourbon barrel aged Imperial Brown Ale pairs perfectly with the song “Raptured to Divine Perversion” by the mighty Ohio based Death Metal band, Acheron. I have been a fan of this band dating back to their debut full length album, Rites of the Black Mass released in 1992 released on JL America. Back in the 90’s, JL America had some unique underground Metal acts on their roster, and most, if not all the releases have become cult classics. The song chosen here comes from the band’s most recent album, 2014’s Kult de Hasses, released on Listenable Records. “Raptured to Divine Perversion” has a very catchy, yet familiar main riff. It reminds me of an old Metal song that I know, but right now as I am typing this, I can not recall what song it is. Listen tot he riff during the first minute of the song, and figure it out and let me know!
Beer Metal Media 