An interesting choice for barrel aging, Anthem’s Golden One gets the “Golden One + Bourbon Barrels + Time” treatment. The non-barrel aged version is a fairly delicate beer, this should be an unusual one for us to review.

Company: Anthem Brewing Company

Location: Oklahoma City, OK

ABV: 8.9%

Style/Description: Ale Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Price: $12 for 750 ml bottle

Appearance: Cloudy dark straw pour, light head, big sticky bubbles.

Nose: Tart and wild nose, without much hint of barrel. Citrus and coriander, grapefruit peel.

Taste: Sickly sweet and boozy, plenty of barrel character and sweet vanilla. The whiskey barrel really overtakes the flavors of Golden One, surprising as I didn’t get much barrel on the nose. Some sweet and spicy herbaceous saison notes, with some lightly bitter orange peel.

Finish: Whiskey barrel continues to dominate the finish, with hot whiskey lingering on the back of the throat while the sickly sweet fruits flavors remain on the tongue.

Overall: The powerful Belgian inspired Golden One just can’t compete with the heavy barrel character. The whiskey mellows a bit as the beer warms, but continues to be very aggressive and dominates the delicate flavors of the base Golden One. Could improve with some aging, but this one tastes like flavored whiskey.

Rating: 2/5