Pfriem's Scotch Barrel-Aged Imperial Brown Sounds like Old Money, But Tastes Like New

It tastes like Christmas fruit and the warmth from Robert Burns’ hearth.

By Matthew Korfhage

You don't get a lot of leathery beer—deep-noted stuff that tastes like a fat wallet, made for cigar smokers and those dudes in three-piece suits who rode the Titanic and lived. Well, enter Pfriem's scotch-barrel-aged imperial brown ale, whose very name sounds like old money but tastes new.

While a lot of bourbon-barrel beers smack of spirituous fire and ash, the rounded malts of this dark ale have been deepened over a year steeping in barrels that once contained single-malt from Macallan, packing 10.5 percent ABV without distracting liquor heat.

It tastes like Christmas fruit and the warmth from Robert Burns' hearth, a far kinder cup than bubbly to drink for auld lang syne. Recommended.

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