Samuel Adams (Barrel Room Collection) Stony Brook Red

Samuel Adams (Barrel Room Collection) Stony Brook Red

Samuel Adams Stony Brook Red: 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.
3.6
401 reviews
Boston, United States

Community reviews

3.7 Pours a dark amber red color with no appreciable head. Nose is mildly tart with Brett mixed with some sweet fruity notes. Taste is mildly tart and sour, by no means over the top ...with some oaky notes and sweet fruit . Finish is oaky with the mild tart fruity notes. Descent ! Quaff Score 7 /10
3.5 This beer was one of the few brought up from Buffalo by my sister-in-law. I saw the impressive rating and wanted to see how an American "big" brewery would approach a sour, especially a established Belgian one. The pour looks good, deeps red-brown with almost tan head. The nose says there is something up. I’m getting as much caramel malt as I am getting sharp sour funk, in fact much more caramel. The taste is the same, rich caramel malt, but not sweet, with a decent roasted-ness to it, a little dried fruit, and some of the vinegar bite I would have expected from this style, but just some. Definitely a tasty beer, a weak version of a Flemish red, but if you’re not too hung up on being true to styles an overall nice drink.
3.3 1 pint 9.4 ounce bottle. Poured out a cloudy translucent orange with a short lived amber head. Aroma was dry white grapes like Champaign and the taste followed with a hint of oak and a dry metallic finish. Palate was slick and soapy. Not really my cup of tea, but worth trying.
3.4 Pours a reddish amber with fluffy head. Aromas of light vinegar, cherries, and some foeder. Flavors of cherries, a little sweet...wants to be Rodenbach Grand Cru but the sour and foeder fails to show.
3.6 Pours a clear amber color with a quickly dissipating khaki colored head. Cola, sour ale, and oaky-vanilla nose. Soft mouthfeel that becomes quite astringent. Flavors approximate the nose.
3.5 Bottle to tulip Light sourness, yeast, some apple and orange, and wood. Transparent red with lots of effervescence which coalesces into a 1 cm, creamy, light tan head. The taste is sour, but very lightly so. Light citrus, similar to grapefruit, but not as sour and I get some woodiness, but not necessarily oak.
3.5 BAcklog rating. 75cl bottle at BottleDog, London. It pours a clean copper color with a minimal tan head. Aroma is sweet red berries marmalade, tangy lemon and red berries, light vinegar and red wine. Taste has more caramel, red berries, plums, citric tartness, red wine reduction. Medium bodied with good carbonation. Overall, complex enough
3.4 Bottle 750ml. Thx Guy. Pours red with low white head. No serious lacing. Aroma is of grapes, caramel, malt, toffee. Taste is of acidity, cherries, red wine, belgian yeast, alcohol. Palate: Medium body. Soft-medium carbonation. Overall: Good.
3.3 Bottle shared by Minderbinder, thanks man! Pours a medium brown with no head and no lacing. Nose is of alcohol, caramel. Taste is of cherries, lightly tart with more caramel. Body is medium, carbonation moderate and there is a little raw alcohol. Overall I thought it was OK but uninspiring, could have been a lot better if it was more fruit-forward.
3.5 SBWF 2015. Hazy reddish golden beer with a small head. Fruity vinous aroma, caramel, grapes, vinegar, some woody notes. Woody citrus and grapefruit flavor, tart, vinous, some hay. Decent but also a bit unclean.
3.3 bottle shared by minderbinder, thanks dude. pours unclear bright red, orange tint, with a small off-white cap, minimal retention and lacing. caramel fruity maltiness, plain toffee, belgian spices, red apples, sherry, some lightly tart red fruits, sweet chewable leather, pepper. moderate carbonation, light to medium body - oily; semi-sweet and spicy finish. o-k.
3.8 De geur is van een typisch oud bruin. Het schenkt ook mooi bruin uit, de kraag verdwijnt bijna direct, maar dat is normaal voor deze bieren. De smaak is zuur, maar met toch nog een zachte andere smaak erin gemixed. Een zeer apart bier, niet echt volledig te vergelijken met de oud bruine van Belgie, het is iets zachter en met een speciale extra smaak erin. Een echte meevaller, zeker voor de mensen die niet van te zuur houden.
3.8 750 ml bottle from The Local Pub, Athens Greece. Amber color, clear, with a beige head. Aromas of tart fruits, caramel, maybe smoke. Tastes oak and caramel, with some tart and acidic notes. Medium body with medium carbonation.
4.2 Bottle from Rehills, Newastle. A hazy dark red coloured beer that pours with a quickly disappearing white head. It has a rich, spicy cherry and vanilla flavour, oak and zesty fruity notes followed by almond and sherry on the smooth finish. Excellent!
3.4 Bottle, 750ml corked. An unclear, dark reddish to light brown beer with a dense, light beige head. The aroma is fruity and lightly vinegarish, with prunes, some faint notes of caramel chocolate. It’s medium to full-bodied, tart and nicely carbonated, with flavors of dried fruits doing most of the manual labour. Some generic fruityness and a faint vinegar touch too. Lasting finish with prunes dominating. A nice one indeed, but it lacks depth and complexity. 150609
3.5 Bottle 750ml @ La Quinta Inn & Suites, Portland, ME Pours hazy brown with a off-white head. Aroma has notes of malt, caramel, dried fruits, yeast and some tartness. Taste is light to medium sweet, light bitter and light to medium sour with a long malty, slightly sour and fruity finish. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft.
3.4 Complex nose of malt, spices and whiskey. Murky brown. Big heavy body with a massive sweet malt taste. Too sweet times but with some tartness to balance it out. Alcohol throughout. Big beer.
3.2 Cherry sour nose medium intense . Deep mahogany color with small head. Very tart sour cherry taste with some malt and honey notes. It misses some lightness.
3.7 Pours a dark amber with an off-white foam head. Aroma is tart fruit and oak. Flavor is more dominated by the oak, with tart fruit in the finish. Very good.
3.9 The aroma has much wild yeast, and a hint of fruit. As I sip, I also sense caramel malt. The taste is moderately sour with some sweetness. Very smooth. Excellent beer.
3.4 Pour on tap at Avery Sourfest 2014, dark reddish brown pour with off white head, aroma brought notes of oak, red wine, dark fruit, caramel into a bit of yeast, bread, some earthy notes into a bit of funk. Taste was a mix of earth, red wine, oak, some caramel into red fruits, funk comes into grain, finishing fairly dry, slightly sweet.
2.8 Rated on 9-14-2013 at Fort Wayne, IN RateBeer gathering (Corked and caged bottle) The appearance of this beer is a small fizzy tan head that quickly dissipated, amber body with a red tint, very little carbontion observed, and spotty amounts of lacing. The aroma is malt, yeast, dark fruit, sour, and tart. The flavor is sweet, sour, lightly tart, malt, and dark fruits. The mouthfeel of this beer is light carbonation and it is medium bodied. Overall, if one likes sour tasting beers, try this one.
3.1 It poured an orange color with a small white head. The aroma was of fruit, some earth and a bit of funkiness. The taste was of fruit, oak, a bit of metallic tang and a little candy. Very nice.
4.1 (bottle - corked & caged 750 ml) Copper pour with a thin white head. Dry funk and slightly sweet aroma. Flavor starts off with a good amount of sour and farmhouse funk, then dries out and moves to a lightly sweet finish with a tart aftertaste. Incredibly impressed.
3.6 Bomber into oversized brandy glass, dirty reddish-brown color with tan head. Aroma of cherry tartness, green apples, red wine, wood, dried fruits (raisins, plums, dates), vinegar and brown sugar. Taste starts off fruity sweetness, then quickly goes into sour/vinous notes with berries, spices, vanilla, tannic oak, hay, yeast funk, light chocolate and port. Medium body, moderate carbonation, dry with light sour tart finish. Very good barrel aged wild ale, my sour loving wife agrees.
4.0 750ml bottle into a pint glass. A: Pours a dark red color with some haze to it. The head is only a finger high (mocha shade), but has very impressive retention. Its creamy, soft texture doesn’t leave much lacing behind, though. S: Fairly complex. I’m not going to say complicated, though - rather than having a billion notes going a billion different ways, it relies mainly on cherries, tartness, and funk for the aroma. Some whiffs will brings stronger cherry, others bring more in the way of funk or (good) acid. If I could nitpick, its that it’s a bit sweet for my preference. Still, a very successful aroma. T: From the start, it seems like cherry sweetness dominates the flavor, with the funky brett being secondary, the tart bite being tertiary, and the oak tannins being quaternary. Occasionally, some sips will yield more funk than others. After a while, the finish displays a touch of caramel malt, while at the same time, the oak flavors become (slightly) more pronounced. I’m pretty impressed with how complex this is, to be perfectly frank. M: Wow, as sweet as it initially seems on the palate, it dries out enough on the back end to keep it from being overbearing. Tannins are present but not harsh. Carbonation is quite zesty, too, and combined with the former, this is a surprisingly drinkable brew. Still, it’s good enough to savor more slowly. O: I’m pretty sure this has a ’mere’ 85 on BA simply because it isn’t that tart. To me, this is closer to a 90 (again, on BA). It’s far from the most tart, but it’s balanced and delicate, a trait that’s lacking in many ’Murican sours (of course, I love a big, brute-force sour monster too, don’t get me wrong!) Given my experiences with 13th Hour Stout and New World Tripel last year, I think it’s safe to say I generally enjoy SA’s barrel-aged, funk-laden brews a whole lot.
3.7 Bottle. Pours reddish brown with a short fizzy off-white head. Fruity & sour aroma with oak, yeast and vinegar. Flavor was sweet and sour with tart cherries, oak, caramel and light vinegar.
3.4 Draft: Clear, red-brown with a small beige head. Wood, black cherry aroma. Taste is tart cherry, barrel, and a slight alcohol tang. Not bad.
3.8 Delicous beer. Has a nice sour taste and the oak flavor is very subtle. Very good offering.
4.0 Kinda going after a flanders type sour, even says so on the bottle. Anywho...the depth of the color and complexity of this brew caight me off guard a little. Tart, slighly sweet and sour, with a bit of cherry, lots of oak, and even a little leather and tobacco that added another layer of complexity to this very enjoyable brew. Not quite traditional, but tasty and very well done."