One New York Life

Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection — Stony Brook Red

Brewed By: Boston Beer Company
Brewed In: Boston, MA — also aged there, per the press release.
ABV: 9%
Type: Red Ale

What They Say: This unique brew defies traditional beer style definition. The rich, malty brew combines notes of tart fruit from the yeast with a toasty oak character from the barrel aging. The long dry finish is almost wine-like. This is a beer that is satisfying on its own and also pairs well with many foods such as braised or roasted meats, beef stews and strong salty cheeses. Samuel Adams Stony Brook Red starts out as a strong red ale fermented with a Belgian style ale yeast. This younger ale is blended with over 50% of our Samuel Adams Kosmic Mother Funk. The Kosmic Mother Funk is a Belgian ale that we age in oak casks and tanks for over 6 months. The beer in the oak vessels undergoes a secondary fermentation with brettanomyces yeasts and lactobacillus to give the beer a rich tropical fruit note and some sourness. Stony Brook Red’s resulting blend has an earthy, fruity, and estery character. The beer is also bottle conditioned which creates a secondary fermentation in the bottle giving the beer an extra smooth and balanced flavor

Why I Picked It: The final beer in the vertical tasting of the Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection Series. One final thanks to fellow beer snob The Big Show for getting these to me.

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Presentation (5): Check out the first post to see my thoughts here. 5

Originality (5): This is pretty much a red, but with some of the Kosmic Mother Funk and oak-aged goodness. Like I said previously: this whole idea of the Barrel Room Series isn’t the top of originality — it’s the second-best in Boston alone after Harpoon’s 100 Barrel Series — but I give Sam the points for trying. 3

Body (10): An opaque red pour with minimal head. Decent amount of carbonation and bubbling. The beer has the same oaken odor as bourbon-aged beers. The texture of the carbonation really manages to pull off the alcohol, successfully off-putting the burn. Really well done body for the type. 8

Taste (10): This is the beer that’s best managed to get mileage out of the oak flavors. As mentioned, the nose is sweet and the taste is an explosion of flavors — sourness from the fruits, sweetness from the oak, and bitterness from the malts. The aftertaste is sort of Belgian, but there’s so much else going on by the time you get there that it can be tough to appreciate. There’s red, Belgian, and oak all going on here. Complex and good. 9

Versatility (10): There’s a lot going on here. These single bottle, experimental beers range between tasty & accessible to tasty & WTF. This one goes more toward WTF. 3

Efficiency (10): Love this beer. The intense flavor forced me to take it slow, but high ABV kept it worth it. 7

The Snob Sez: My favorite of these barrel room collection beers. This won’t change the way anyone feels about beer, but it’s a good single bottle offering that isn’t disappointing.

Final Score: 35 (of 50) — Good beer.