Kuhnhenn - Bourbon Barrel Aged 4th Dimentia

*As you can tell, the bottle is as excited about this as I am.  That is why it is still wearing its party hat.*

Big thanks to BeerAdvocate member Steimie for the bottle of this! Awesome, awesome guy.

From Kuhnhenn:

"This is our 4th Dementia Olde Ale that has been bourbon barrel aged. This ale has an intense sweet caramel malt flavor and aroma that develops into a toffee/toasted marsh mellow like character."


This is a really exciting moment for myself because I am finally getting around to opening this.  I have only had it one other time but it was a small sample and it was just incredible so tonight I finally say, "Enough is enough."

Here we go,


Poured a dark brown out of the bottle into the glass and is a muddy water brown as it rests in the glass.  The beer poured with almost a non-existent head.  What small head I did get from the pour was really just enough to hug the sides of the glass around the edge of the beer.  Clarity seems like an odd and obscure word when it comes to the appearance of beer because this lacks it entirely but yet I love the appearance of this beer so much.  It poured into the glass like syrup it seemed and the way it seemed to not give off a head at all makes me think it isn't far from that.  Wow this is intense looking.

Ok, sh*t got real.  Vanilla, caramel, brown sugar,  booze, dark fruits, and alcohol.  I don't get so much of a toasted marshmallow like they suggested but more of a "I just opened this bag of marshmallows and it smells amazing" type of thing.  Very, very intense crazy smelling beer.  The alcohol in the aroma doesn't hide itself at all but just compliments the other aromas perfectly.  I have said other beers smelled intense but this is truly the definition of the word intense.  With some beers certain characteristics stick out more than others but this isn't the case at all with BB4D.  All of the aroma stick out evenly but do so in a big, in your face, and almost an overpowering way.  It smells like a bouquet of sin and I wouldn't have it any other way.

 First sip and I am hit with a nice vanilla, caramel, brown sugar sweetness on the tip of the tongue but but the time it reaches mid-palate it transforms into figs and raisins and other dark fruits drenched in bourbon.  While the flavors are big and really sweet, they are not overly sweet but rather the different kinds of sweetness balance each other out and then the alcohol on the finish really cuts them both and leaves your palate ready for another ladle full of liquid bliss.  Hmm, the more I drink of this the more it feels like there is a finish on the finish.  Followed by the boozy finish was some dark fruits with a very, very slight bit of tartness from maybe a black cherry? Wow.  If you can imagine a bigger, sweeter, less peaty, and a more boozy version of Backwoods Bastard then this is what you would be imaging.   I can't quite give you a recommendation for something to drink in its place because there isn't one.  

Not too syrupy in mouthfeel but definitely heavy in the mouth but in the best of ways.  So far this ranks in my top 3 beers of 2013 so far and this is one that I don't think will lose its place.  You have two options.  Live vicariously through my reviews (which I would love!) or trade for this. I know I will be trading for this stuff whenever it becomes available.

Cheers ladies and gentlemen!