Lexington Brewing Co.
Lexington, KY
Available: KY
Lexington Brewery’s Kentucky Ale is aged for up to six weeks in freshly-decanted bourbon barrels from some of Kentucky’s distilleries.
ABV: 8.2
ABW: 6.53
Color: 12
Bitterness: 21
Original gravity: 1058.4
This beer reminds me of when my daughter discovered fonts. Her next school paper was littered with so many different ones, it dominated and ruined her report. The biggest mistake brewers make when aging their beer in bourbon barrels is that they overdo it. The influence should be more subtle than this. Look for the vanilla, caramel, maple syrup, charcoal, bitter chocolate and resinous texture from the bourbon barrel bullying the otherwise straight-forward, but perfectly acceptable, amber ale profile.
As I understand it, Alltech is an international biotechnology company that just happens to also own a brewery, which makes this an ale of a most curious pedigree, even if it is Lexington-based and suitable bourbon barrel-aged. Copper-colored, it has an aroma redolent of vanilla and caramel. Not surprisingly, the body follows suit, with light bourbony notes struggling to assert themselves from beneath a blanket of sweet and cloying butterscotch and caramel. Not bad with a drop of Woodford Reserve and a dribble of sweet vermouth added, but seriously overbearing on its own.
John Hansell is an equal-opportunity drinker. He writes about beer, wine and spirits. He is the creator, publisher & editor of Malt Advocate, a magazine for the whisky enthusiast.
Once described as “beerdom's Brillat-Savarin,” Stephen Beaumont is the author of five books and countless articles on beer, spirits, food, travel, and how it all goes together.
