The complete lineup of downed soldiers |
As for this week's edition of Cellar Monday, the beer of choice is Dogfish Head's Palo Santo Marron, bottled in November of 2009.
Winter 2009-2010 was when my cellar first started to really grow. I started a yearly tradition of adding some of Dogfish Head's big beers (specifically, World Wide Stout and Olde School Barleywine along with Palo Santo), and decided to check in on a bottle from the first set. From the second the beer hit the glass, I could smell the unique spicy and woody notes from the Palo Santo wood. They really assert themselves and dominate the beer. There's still some milk chocolate and caramel from the base beer, but those are very much in the background. The wood aging definitely seems to be much more prominent here than in fresh bottles that I've had. The body is still somewhat of a marvel for restrained and not heavy it is. It's not light by any means, but when I hear "12% Imperial Brown Ale" I'm bracing for something that's a bit more viscous. The beer ends up being a bit more easy drinking than one would expect because of this. I did enjoy my glass of Palo Santo Marron tonight, but I prefer the better balance between base beer and wood aging that I've found in more fresh bottles.
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