We represent Shelton Brothers in Seattle and just went through the Mikkeller range (which is to us 7-8 different beers), including the Green IPA and the American cans series.
The beers we finished with were from the ‘Oak’ series, I don’t know if that’s the official title but it’s a mixed 12 pack, 3 different beers, 4 bottles of each, Of those 3 different beers there are 3 different oak treatments, all Forets, Centre, Limousine, Taransaud (?). Within those different forest you get 2 levels of oak treatment, low and high, so here is the case breakdown in case I’m not explaining it :
All .375’s
2b Centre low toast
2b Centre High toast
2b Limousine Low toast
2b Limousine High toast
2b Taransaud Low toast
2b Taransaud High toast
(I’m not sure if Taransaud is correct)
These are barley wines coming in at 19.3%, they are intense and sweet but balanced. In my mind they sort of remind me of a heady dessert wine with rich dates and caramel notes that come through with Orange peel and cream.
The interesting thing is that the level of oak treatment has less overall impact than the actual forest. For me I really liked the ‘Centre’, they had the most hop like character with a little skunk in the nose. The other forest made a richer fuller beer with more acid to give it lift.
Really cool wines and if you like this sort of thing it would be fun to buy a case, these could age for years.