In honor of my little barrel of boozy joy I’ve been incorporating aged alcohol into my daily schedule as much as possible.  After deciding on this resolution, I was pleased to discover that the Full Sail taproom in Portland was hosting a tasting of their Top Sail Bourbon Imperial Porter.

Now I enjoy beer releases as much as the next person, but for the most part they usually involve three things: 1) the keg being tapped. 2) your glass getting filled 3) standing around talking about the beer until you’ve had a few pints.

There is nothing wrong with this equation, but I’m happy Full Sail decided to shake things up a bit.

Top Sail is a blend of porter aged in three different bourbon barrels—Maker’s Mark, Stranahan’s and Four Roses.  Not content to only sample the blended, final product, Full Sail stashed some kegs of each individual batch so their thirsty patrons could swirl, sniff and taste the subtle nuances of the different brews.

For me, this meant that I could try and learn about the flavors and variations from different barrels.  Now I know that Maker’s Mark barrels make beer chocolaty and tangy while Stranahan’s are smoky and Four Roses’ are scentless but boozy as a late night whiskey bender.

Considering that I now have my very own 2-liter barrel of joy, this information will soon come in handy (i.e. one year from now).

This picture was taken by my pal Damian.  This stuff really shouldn’t be poured in pints…