I've been hoping to come at you with this review for a while now. Today's beer is a special treat for me, as its one I've been looking forward to ever since I heard it was going to be bottled. Today's review is of Finch's Dirtier Bird Barrel Aged Doppelbock. This beer was unveiled at the Festival of Barrel Aged Beer in late 2011, and won second place in one of the categories if I remember correctly. I wasn't able to make it to the festival, so I had to wait for this brew to be released to the general masses. I've been digging Finch's Pale Ale and Golden Wing for a while now, but I've been want for something new from them since I haven't been able to find their IPA in the suburbs anywhere, (although I think I've tracked down a bar that has it, more on that another day). It's safe to say I was ecstatic when I saw this brew in my local Binny's. Id been trying to find it since I heard it was released and had almost given up until I stumbled across it by accident.
This beer pours a nice warm amber/light brown color, with a good inch and a half of tan head on top. The head disappeared rather quickly, but left about half a fingers worth on top throughout the tasting. There was a lot of lacing on the side of my tasting glass. This was a very good looking beer and I couldn't wait to taste it.
My first scent of this brew was all malt and bourbon. The bourbon scent wasn't as strong as some other bourbon aged beers I've had, so the sweetness from the malts was able to shine through which complimented the style nicely in my opinion. After searching through the malt and bourbon, I got some sweetness. The sweetness kind of reminded me of vanilla.
I was surprised to find that my first sip of this beer didn't contain an overwhelming amount of bourbon. My initial sip was all malt, and I was really able to appreciate this beer as a doppelbock first and foremost. As the tasting progressed the bourbon became more prominent and my palette was met by the vanilla sweetness I had smelled in the bouquet. The malt continued to play a significant role throughout the tasting though, which surprised me because I'm so used to being overwhelmed with bourbon whenever I try bourbon barrel aged beer. I think the highlight of this beer's taste is the fact that its able to keep its doppelbock character while also taking in what the bourbon barrel had to offer. I can't stress enough how well balanced this beer was with each taste. One thing I'd note though is that as the beer warmed, the bourbon became a little more prominent which added a nice contrast to tasting it when it was chilled.
This beer had a medium body, there was a lot of carbonation present throughout the tasting, which I think helped make the flavors less intense and more enjoyable. The aftertaste was mostly bourbon, with a slight hint of vanilla and malt. The aftertaste lingered for a pleasant amount of time. I found myself tasting it quite a while after finishing the bottle. Another pleasant aspect of this beer is that there wasn't a whole lot of heat left behind from bourbon. I attribute this to the moderate 6.5% ABV, but it was still nice to have a variety of tastes left on my palette after finishing each sip that weren't overpowered by alcohol.
Overall, I thought this beer was fantastic. I really enjoyed the subtlety of it. I didn't feel overwhelmed by any individual flavor. I felt like the malt and bourbon worked very harmoniously together. The sweetness of the malt was complimented by the subtle flavors of the bourbon and made for a very pleasant drink on a cold January night in the Chicago suburbs. I will definitely be going back tomorrow and grabbing a bottle for the beer cellar. I think it'd be interesting to see what this beer would be like with some more time spent sitting around.
Note: I did a little internet research before buying this beer, and found a lot of reviews that rated this beer very poorly. I don't know if there was a problem with some bottles off the line or what, but I had no issues with lack of carbonation or off flavors. I know that all beer drinkers have varying palettes, but a lot of the issues I read about on beeradvocate.com and ratebeer.com were not present in my bottle. If you're a serious beer drinker my advice is to go find a bottle of this brew and make the judgment for yourself.
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