New Glarus Unplugged Bourbon Barrel Bock
Sublimely elegant this toffee toned bock is rich with a blend of Wisconsin and German barley malts. Over four months of resting in oak bourbon barrels gives this beer a wonderfully smooth body that will improve and mellow with age. Should you choose to enjoy this classic today, you can expect a treasure of vanilla, oak and carmel notes to be bolstered by hops from France, Slovenia and Germany. Wild Brett yeast sings in harmony to the tune of Bock. 20 degrees Plato OG makes this bourbon barrel a masterwork to remember.
3.7
333 reviews
New Glarus, United States
Community reviews
Bottle is at least one year old that I know of. This drinks as a sweet beer but not heavy/under-attenuated. Moderate body, no head to speak of. Coats the mouth, vanilla and sweet caramelized. This is a beautiful departure from your average bourbon beer. I get the wood, vanilla and sweetness with the booziness. Give me the recipe so I can dub this beer please.
Pours a deep dark red with thin white head. Aroma is full of bourbon and has a bit of malt, oak, vanilla, etc. Flavor is mellow up front but has a nice chorus of malty flavors that follow... caramel, chocolate, and deliciousness. I am never ever let down by these guys. New Glarus is quite possibly the finest brewery around.
Only available in Wisconsin. Great flavor and aroma. Dont drink it right out of the fridge, pour it into a glass and let it warm up for 5 minutes or so, it really releases the flavor.
Pours a cloudy dark ruby/chestnut brown color with mahogany edges and a half finger off-white head that quickly settles into a thin ring. Spotty lacing.
Complex aroma with a prominent barrel character that doesn’t overpower the sweet and roasted malt notes. Hints of toasted oak, vanilla and bourbon along with some caramel sweetness, chocolate malt, toffee burnt toast and hazelnut.
Medium bodied with some soft carbonation up font and a well integrated barrel presence that lingers throughout with becoming a booze bomb. Dry toasted oak along with some vanilla and coconut smooth out the sweet bourbon flavor and there are plenty of sweet and roasted malt notes underneath preventing it from becoming one dimensional. Hints of toffee, caramel, hazelnut, dark fruit and choclate as well as some dry, roasted coffee bean. Complex yet very easy to drink.
Bottle from Breeze Thru, cellar aged about a year. Pours reddish brown with many small bubbles not breaking the surface. Aroma has toffee, vanilla, vinious fruits. Taste brings vanilla, sour fruit, some caramel, some brown sugar. No bourbon-specific notes. Quite thin. Finishes sweet vanilla and somewhat fruity - not very long with any length being alcohol. Little "bock"y presence. My memory of having this fresh is it was better then.
Bottle 12fl.oz. @ [ Tasting by Fin & Loz ].
Unclear medium amber colour with virtually no head. Aroma is moderate malty, caramel, malt, alcohol, ripped fruit, oxidide malt. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, fruit and berry sweet, malty. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat, finish feel is light alcoholic. [20111023]
[355ml bottle courtesy of cgarvieuk] Copper coloured, thin head which reduces pretty quickly to a lacing. Bourbon and cheese on the nose – very strange. The whisky is certainly there, but that faint cheesiness is quite off-putting. Tart, sourish whisky palate. Funky – you can certainly taste the Brett. Yet sweet caramel in there as well. Alright – but maybe too much going on at one, there’s quite a clash in there [15102011]
Bottle at cgarvieuk tasting. Pale copper/gold, no head to speak of. Nose is slightly sulphuric, lots of raisin, big toffee. Similar flavours, slight alcohol burn. Not great.
bottle at home ... deep brown ... thin lacing ... cheesy bouron .... toffe malt nose ... funky sour tones ... brett ... soft toffee malt ... some dark sugers ... ok ... if a little weird.
Traded bottle. Finally learned my lesson with these NG bottles and left the sediment in the bottle! Guess I can learn after all. Yep this is something pretty different and interesting. Traditional carmely bock with some faint bourbon notes and a hint of sour from the brett. There’s a lot going on here but I think they pulled it off nicely. Not sure on the age of this bottle but it seems very smooth and well "blended."
Bottle at a Max tasting (thanks Paul). Pours a clear iced tea with minimal white head. Aroma has sweet notes of marshmallow, toffee cream, and coconut. Flavor is unfortunately papery with some toffee notes. Some bourbon, toffee, and cream in the finish. The cardboard/paper gets in the way. I could tell this was good in it’s day, but it’s now past its peak.
Bottle at Max’s impromptu tasting. Pours a clear amber with a thin white head. Touches of bourbon and old spicy plums. A bit funky. Odd and lightly astringent. Sweet, interesting. Bourbon and an odd sweetness on the finish.
Bottle @ home, courtesy of some generous dude. Thanks! Red orange appearance with a cream colored head. Bourbon, caramel malts, sweet, oaky nose that’s pretty nice. Pretty oaky, sweet caramel malty flavor. Fun, tasty brew but pretty simple with basically a dull caramel flavor over some wood aging.
Bottle courtesy of Secret Santa ’10. Pours a murky brownish-amber color with a thin short-lived head. The aroma consists of strong bourbon, raisins, plums, funky cherries, and vanilla. Fairly smooth flavor; more of the New Glarus trademark funky cherry and sweet vanilla come out here with less dark fruit than aroma had me thinking. The bourbon, perhaps also less intense than it smells, still is fairly strong and lingers pretty much the whole time. Caramel joins in. Slighty tart in the finish with a light alcohol sting. Not sure when this was originally released but only very slight oxidation is present and it appears the bottle has held up very well. Nice beer. Leave it up to New Glarus to do something out of the box and make it damn good. Some similarties to the Belgian Quadruple but quite unique on it’s own.
12 oz. bottle shared by STLWill- thanks again, Will! Pours a clear amber color with an off-white head. Aroma of caramel malts, vanilla, oak, and brown sugar- the bourbon itself is pretty light in the nose. Flavor of vanilla, caramel malts, brown sugar, fruits, and biscuits- not much bourbon here either, but the rest of the barrel notes are, and are stronger than any bock notes. Light-medium bodied, with a smooth, malty mouthfeel and sweet finish. Mild carbonation. Really nice bourbon barrel bock.
Bottle thanks to Styles. Pours reddish brown. Nose of cinnamon, brown sugar and molasses. Taste is fig, dark fruits, raisin, plum, caramel, brown sugar and molasses.
Dense vermillion, quick yellowhite head. Aroma almost suggest this was aged in wine barrels, with a vinous funkiness that dominates. Yes, tart grapes atop alcohol atop sweet & sour caramel. Flavor is exactly the same, no surprises. Wine and wood, soured caramel malt, mild ABV. Flat-bodied with a weird fizz. Thought this would have held up for a while. Seems like it didn’t. ~~~~~~~~~~ In my cellar for an unknown amount of time, probably a couple years. From Gene... or maybe Carl. Or Dale. Or that Scott guy.
sample at RBSG’10 summer gathering - dirty blonde pour, sweet fruits, cherries and berries. biscuity malts, bourbon, light woody and vanilla. Very sweet, but great mouthfeel.
Sampled at the 2010 RBSG grand tasting. Pours a reddish blonde (strawberry blonde?) with an espresso swirl head. The aroma is spicy and smoky with some vanilla and salty notes. The flavor is spicy and nutty with a good fruitiness and some boozy (whiskey and otherwise) notes.
12oz bottle poured into a snifter. Has a small but long lasting head. Hazy, cognac colored body. Aroma is an amalgamation of strong bourbon at first but some nice sweet biscuit, licorice-esque alcohol and tolerable wood. Flavor is nice despite all the disparate elements that actually fit well together. The alcohol has also died down in the flavor. Brett isn’t strong and comes off as slick but mixes well with the biscuit-malt character. Very flavorful and memorable.
12 oz bottle shared by mothman. Pours a nice darker amber, hazy, light lacing head with small ring. Aromas are a light bourbon, caramel, toffee, a nice sweetness. Initial sweeter, a decent oxidized sweetness. A touch of bourbon. Light, thinned out over time. Fairly oxidized, fairly sweet with nice bourbon presence smoothed out with decent vanilla tannins. Tasty yet a bit simplified over time with biscuits and vanilla, some sherry like pit fruit moves into the fold, light booziness.
12oz bottle pours a transparent, copper amber with one ring of white head. Aroma of cherries, sherry, light wood, malty. Imagine a cherry shake. Flavor is sweet, cherries, fruits, woody, sherry, malty. Super drinkable. Full bodied and sweet. I liked this alot.
thanks to cmillward for sharing! Strong bourbon nose with vanilla and molasses. Pours a maple amber with thin head. Creamy vanilla with hints of bourbon upfront, rich malt tones with molasses notes in the flavor. There’s a very subtle tartness in the finish with a long lingering bourbon note. Excellent!
Bottle thanks to Sean! Poured a clear amber with a thin yellow gray head that dissipated to a film around the edges. Aroma was sweet with toffee, caramel and biscuit. Also a pretty present bourbon note. Flavor was sweet with toffee, caramel, grain and just a hint of fruits. Bourbon does a good job of melding with the other flavors.
bottle pours light brown with a medium off white head. Aroma is vanilla, oak and bourbon. Flavor is creamy bourbon and vanilla with a caramel malt and assertive hop finish. This is special stuff.
MMM a bourbon barrell aged lager-cool. The nose is of syrupy whiskey, apple cider, slight malt, and some sort of very heavy lilac floral scent. The bourbon vanilla is big in this one and matches well to the toasted malt.
Murky caramel brown with a thin tan head that’s gone. Aroma of bourbon, toffee, diacetyl, oak, vanilla, alcohol and plenty of malt – reminds me of a barley wine more than a dopplebock. Taste of toffee, oak, vanilla, bourbon and salt. Overly sweet with some warming and a sweet, salty finish. Not bad, but a little too sweet.
12oz bottle shared with barleyPops, thanks! Had a few beforehand and re-used plastic beer cup (I know....), so did not get the best aroma or appearance factors. Definitely tasted the vanilla and caramel but not much oak. Very smooth but did not get a good taste of bourbon. I’ll have to try this again.
12oz bottle. Pours a clear glowing reddish amber with a medium fizzy foamy cream colored head. Aroma is very New Glarus, seemingly lactic, lots of vanilla, nicely sour smelling, similar to the cranbic barrel character, spicy woody yogurt, cherry hard candy, fantastic. Flavor follows, not much bock here, lightly lactic, lovely spicy woody character, oaky, light hard candy like sweetness, some chocolate underneath in the finish, touch of munich, wow this is very smooth, great depth, and very enjoyable, the chocolate and bourbon play just slightly weirdly off the infection and residual sugars but its quite good, lightly fruity, super oaky. Alcohol is well hidden, who knows what it is but I’m sure it’s up there. Medium bodied with soft fizzy carbonation, slightly hard-candyish. Who knows what this used to taste like. =p
A: Pours a amberish hue with a small cream colored head. No real retention and no lace noted.
S: Nice big blast of bourbon, vanilla, and sweet candy like malts.
T: Wonderful almost sour like wood flavor up front. Mild vanilla goes well with toffee, and brown sugar. Light chocolate seems to mingle with hints of dark fruit.
M: On the fuller side of medium, light carbonation, smooth.