Rating: 6/5

Brandy Barrel Bois (5th Anniversary ale) by The Bruery is a 15% ABV World Class Old Ale aged in Brandy Barrels.

Commercial Description:
The traditional fifth anniversary gift is something made of wood, or “Bois” in French.

Bois is our fifth anniversary ale, loosely brewed in the English-style Old Ale tradition using our house Belgian yeast strain and then blended using the solera method. A portion of each of our anniversary ales is saved in our barrels and blended in with the next year’s production, providing more complexity and depth of character that comes with age. Layered with complex flavors of dark fruit,vanilla, oak, and burnt sugar, Bois is a robust ale, surely the perfect beer to mark this major milestone.
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This variant of the Bruery’s 5th anniversary beer has been sitting around for about a year aging. This variant is aged in Brandy barrels, the whole dynamics of the original Bois are either enlightened more or possibly stays just as delicious as when I first tried Bois last year. So here it is, Brandy Barrel aged Bois for your reading pleasure.

Here is the original review of the Bourbon Barrel one: (https://brewerianimelogs.wordpress.com/2013/06/06/bois-5th-anniversary-by-the-bruery/)

Aromas:
Rich dark fruits, dates, bananas, vanilla, dulce de leche caramel, toasted coconut, dark chocolate, pecan pie, cherry cordial, dark cherry ice cream, vanilla ice cream, Flan, crème brulee, Tres Leches, wine grapes, brandy, oak, apples, Leche Nestle sweetened condensed milk, toffee, marshmallows, brown sugar, raspberries, maple, molasses, sherry and port wine.

Flavors:
More dark fruit like prunes, raisins and figs forward than the original, brandy barrel, wine grapes, raspberries, cherry cordial chocolates, oak, apples, Tres Leches, dulce de leche caramel, marshmallows, toffee, coconut, macaroons, apples, dark cherry yogurt hints, flan, vanilla ice cream, dark cherry ice cream, crème brulee, wine grapes, port wine, sherry, molasses, brown sugar, maple syrup, leather, black berries and blueberries.

Aftertaste:
The Brandy with the wine like tangy notes linger along with the sweet caramel, flan, vanilla, dark cherry, coconut hints, and chocolate port linger for a little but dry up. No alcohol in the taste. Smooth yet sipping beer. Full to syrupy mouth feel.

Overall:
Simply outstanding!! Somehow, Brandy always something very amazing to beers that Bourbon does not. Each spirit barrel adds an additional component that really makes the beers vary. With Bois, it is like taking an already over the top beer and modifying it into new ways it was maybe never meant to go before. This one I got directly from the Bruery. If you go there, you should definitely get this one, I highly recommend it!!

Anime Corner:
Rei Ayanami was used in last year’s Bois and I brought Asuka Langley Sohryu Shikinami from the previous beer (Fruet) to represent the addition of the Brandy barrel to Bois. They are from Neon Genesis Evangelion. In this picture they sit holding each other like really close friends. They are both very powerful in the series. The addition of brandy adds more fruit to the beer, like in the Fruet represented by Asuka. Her colors also represent the Red Wax addition to Bois.

Sources:
http://i.imgur.com/1fkIfXE.jpg