Name: De Puta Madre- Reposado
Brewer: Crows Craft Brewing & Distilling Co. (Philippines)
Style: Specialty Wood-Aged Beer (Base Style: Double IPA)
ABV: 8%
Review Year: 2020
In their sixth anniversary celebration last year, Josemari Cuervo and the Crows Crew unveiled the country’s first barrel-rested beer alongside their expanded range of award-winning spirits. Their first barrel-rested beer is their flagship Double IPA, De Puta Madre rested in casks that housed their Crows Craft Gin. This time, the Crows Crew reveals a very limited first batch of De Puta Madre rested in American Oak casks used to create their Crows Single Malt Craft Whisky.
Read More: A Feast for Crows: Crows Craft Turns Six
STYLE GUIDELINES
This beer is being evaluated as a Specialty Wood-Aged Beer (33B) with the Double IPA (22A) as the base style in the context of the 2015 Beer Style Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). The most current version of the guidelines can be found on the BJCP website.
TASTING NOTES
The De Puta Madre- Reposado is a very clear, medium amber beer with an off-white head. The head has very good retention in the glass. Warming up the nose are faint caramel and sweet toast-like notes, coupled with some orange peels and dessert bread. This whisky reposado version is medium-full bodied and has a moderately low carbonation level. Mouthfeel leans towards syrup-like. While the perceived flavor balance is 60 percent hops and 40 percent malts, the whisky and/or wood characters are very evident and add complexity to the flavor balance. The hop characteristics reveal pine and resin-like profiles, with supporting sweet oranges, citrus peels, and lemon– a proper reminder that the base beer is a hoppy Double IPA. Meanwhile, the malt profile seems to manifest as caramel sweetness, toffee, and raisins and provides a solid backbone to the beer. The fermentation character gives a very clean and neutral impression.
The bitterness is elevated, reminiscent of the original De Puta Madre: pine-like. The alcohol makes its presence felt in the flavor but is smooth, well-integrated, and not hot. The alcohol presence together with the oaky and woody character would be something enticing for whisky drinkers. Underneath, a very mild pepper heat crawls but adds a nice touch to the other aspects of the flavor. The aftertaste lingers with oak and whisky tones, caramel sweetness, and possibly hop-derived impressions of pine and lemon peel.
THE VERDICT
Very impressive. De Puta Madre-Reposado is well-balanced, smooth, and very clean, but delivers a complex flavor profile bringing together hops, malts, alcohol, and wood. The bitterness and alcohol character are both sufficient to remind its drinkers that the beverage they are drinking is a Double IPA rested in an ex-whisky cask and not a sloppy boilermaker.
This is definitely #NotForEveryone. De Puta Madre-Reposado is not recommended for craft beer newbies but would resonate well with more seasoned beer geeks and whisky aficionados.
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Thanks for the awesome review! Cheers! 🍻🤘🏻
Cheers and keep em coming!