Arcadia Ales Barrel Aged Shipwreck Porter: Review

Shipwreck Porter

Arcadia Brewing Company

Battle Creek, Michigan, USA

Arcadiaales.com

Aged in oak bourbon barrels from Kentucky 

12% abv

50 IBU’s

12 oz bottle

$7.99 a bottle

My problem before opening this Porter was which glass to use.  12% abv - I want to use the sniffer.  It's only a Porter - I want to use my bell goblet because it look cool. Let me do both and see or smell the difference.  Big time difference. In the bell goblet the opening is wide open and lets all the aroma out and it smells uninspiring.  In the sniffer a world of difference and you will read that below under aroma.  

Appearance: black body with brown edges around the rim; half finger or so deep tan head that leaves some spotty lacing

Aroma: get this ale in the right glass; sweet bourbon that reminds me of a sweet bourbon glaze that I use; nice molasses, brown sugar, damn even a good black licorice note (anise); good roasted grains followed by toasted dark caramel; wood – oak; throw in some roasted vanilla extract along with that oak; nice alcohol without being boozy to me; hint of smoke to go along with the woodsy notes – (side note) – some call it ‘toasted head’ when they toast the oak barrels with fire before they add the bourbon or red wines into the barrel; light roasted coffee with a semi-sweet chocolate note;

Damn, this is one complex bouquet.  You can play the game, ‘guess what I am smelling?’  To me this aroma on this Porter – is top shelf stuff.  This should be ranked along with some of the great red wines for quality aroma, single malt scotches, and so on.  Wow, I’ll be dreaming of this one for a while

Flavors: is it all aroma and nothing much on the flavors … what you read above is what you will get in flavor … AND … more – for everything comes together for one exceptional experience.  While this is the first bottle I have ever had of this Porter – right now I think the aroma far exceeds the flavors in my personal enjoyment of this ale.  This Porter is so complex that the flavors change from the front to the back and with each sip you will find something else. 

Mouthfeel: super light, light fizz can be detected, call it low carbonation; nice moderate charred, roasted, and toasted notes – all working together; here is another dimension of the complexity of this ale – the bitterness – it ranges from a semi-sweet chocolate style on the delivery to a 75% dark chocolate like bitterness to a nice 85% like dark chocolate bitterness; AND to me here is the best part – this is purely elegant

To the Point: sometimes beers are very ‘reviewogenic’ (I like to call it) they have great flavors and all, but they taste bad overall when they come together. He’brew Sweet 16 comes to mind.  That ale was fun to review but, I would never drink something like that ever again in my life.  This Porter – it is great to review and even greater to just sit back and drink. 

Believe me - you will not fall asleep on this ale
Carly is belly up after a bowl of water

This is going on my top shelf list of must have beers.  If I could end each day with only one beer and never change it from day to day – this might be the one.  Pour my sniffer glass full of Barrel Aged Shipwreck Porter, put me in my leather chair in front of my TV’s (with sports), light me up my favorite cigar to go with this Porter and my life is complete.  “Life” – okay slight exaggeration; my ‘Day’ is complete. 

I don’t remember the last time I talked so much about a Porter. 

I am lighting up a La Gloria Serie R 6 Maduro cigar and sitting back and just enjoy this experience.  

Wax dipped top

Use the knife on your wine opener to cut
the wax just below the rim of the cap
and then use your bottle opener