Yes, it is hot out and barrel-aged beers are not the best style for the weather but I did not know when I would see beers from Lough Gill Brewery in Los Angeles again, so here we go…
Lough Gill is based in Sligo, Ireland and they have three big beers on three different barrel types…
Since this is an Irish beer, I started with the Irish Whiskey barrel-aged oatmeal stout, Spear.
The booziness starts up strong once the can is opened. The first sip brings maple syrup notes. Not faint ones, big ones. Quite a sugar high, maybe a knock-on effect from the Oatmeal Stout base. The Irish Whiskey is backing it up as well making this a small sip at a time beer. It is relatively thin mouthfeel wise but because the other flavors are so big, that works to its benefit.
Next up is Trinity!