Beer Spotlight!

Spotlight on the Deschutes 2015 The Stoic

$18.99 for the 22oz bottle
Barrel-aged Quadrupel Style Ale

Over this past year, week after week, month after month, we’ve noticed that one of our distributors claimed to have some Deschutes 2015 Stoic in stock. Finally, we just had to check it out. We mean, was it really there, was it part of that first 2015 batch, and — most importantly — how was it tasting now?

The Stoic, originally released in 2015, was part of Deschutes’ special reserve series — this is a series where Deschutes takes some strong beers and subjects them to some seriously careful barrel-aging. It’s the kind of brewing that, sadly, makes less and less economic sense in today’s beer world. Thus, we’re just not seeing as many of these special, big beers. In this case, Deschutes brewed a Quadrupel style ale and enhanced its fruitiness and body with pomegranate. They then aged 16.5% of it in oak wine barrels and 16.5% in oak rye whiskey barrels before blending the three versions of the brew together.

On the bottle, they claim the Stoic to be a “Belgian-Styled Quad of stirring depth & complexity,” and that claim ain’t no lie. The 2015’s got that “aged beer” mustiness around the edges and packs some deeply strong carbonation. Under all that is a beautifully varied Quad — slightly sweet, slightly fruity with a little sting from the hops still there keeping it crisp. This brew is one time when we’re soooo glad we gave into our curiosity.