[BW] Beer Blog

Brewery: Full Sail Brewery
Style: Porter
BeerAdvocate.com Rating: A- (Community)
RateBeer.com Rating: 3.89 (98th percentile)
Serving: 22oz Bottle

I have mixed feelings about Full Sail. On one hand they have a commitment to sustainability rivaled by few and have a completeley seperate brewery just to brew their top-tier brews. On the other hand they brew a lot of boring, completely uninspired brews. They even have a brewing contract with Miller to brew some of their smaller produced beers, such as Henry’s Organic Pale Ale. I guess I think of them as a macro micro brewery.

That aside, I’m a big fan of bourbon-inspired porters and stouts. This brew immediately stood out to me on the shelf as something I absolutely had to try. Will Full Sail redeem themselves somewhat? First, let’s see what this one is all about:

Top Sail was aged for about 10 months in bourbon casks from Kentucky. This aging presents hints of chocolate, figs, and oak to this amplified robust porter. Deep black in color, it has a raosy malt flavor and a rich malt sweetness that’s smooth and drinkable. A hearty cellar beer.

Appearance - About as dark of a brown as you can get. Not much light gets through either. A good finger’s worth of tan head is left upon pouring.

Smell - Bourbon definitely shines through, but not in an overwhelming way. Hues of chocolate and malt also come through as well.

Taste - Much more balanced than Oregon Trail’s attempt. This isn’t to say that Full Sail’s is necessarily better, but Top Sail is much closer to a porter that uses bourbon to add to the experience. My nose tagged this one perfectly as chocolate and malt are also very apparent. Surprisingly, even at 9.85% ABV, the alcohol isn’t very apparent.

All in all I’d say pick this one up if you’re into porters or darker ales brewed with bourbon. If bourbon turns you off then you can probably skip this one. While this is definitely a delicious brew, I think it got more hype than it deserved.

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