Saint Brewis

A St. Louis Craft Beer Blog

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4 Hands Brewery – Volume 4

Brewery 4 Hands Brewery
Location  St. Louis, MO
Style Barrel Aged Blended Sout/Barleywine
 ABV 11.0%
 IBUs n/a

 

Best Quote During Tasting

Well doesn't that just sound as fancy as a poodle on a unicycle.

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Justin:

Aroma - The first thing that I get is bitter chocolate and that's quickly followed by sweet oak and subtle booze from the barrels. There is some amazing and pronounced caramel and brown sugar that when combined with the vanilla character from the barrel aging make for an awesome combo.
Score: 10/12
Appearance - Volume 4 is an opaque, black beer with a thin, brown head that has small bubbles and never leaves.
Score: 3/3
Flavor - It's quite sweet with brown sugar and booze dominating. The chocolate is less bitter here than in the aroma and is on equal ground with the sweet oak notes that you can find. Those same caramel and vanilla from the nose are here too and play a big part in connecting all of the flavors into one cohesive beer. At 11%, there is some subtle heat from the alcohol but that's easily tamed by all of the sweetness from the beer and the barrels used to age it.
Score: 18/20
Mouthfeel - The body is very full, creamy and mouth coating and the carbonation is just above medium. It's is very soft and velvety but doesn't linger on your tongue.
Score: 4/5
Overall Impression - You wanna take a big stout and a big barley wine and blend them? Be my guest. You want to actually age both beers in separate spirit barrels BEFORE blending them? You get outta town, you madman you! On paper it's hard to make this beer NOT amazing but when you taste it, you realize just how good this works together. I understand it's gotta be limited based on barrel quantity and all kinds of things but c'mon. The people need more!
Score: 9/10
Volume 4 Final Score
  • Aroma
  • Appearance
  • Flavor
  • Mouthfeel
  • Overall
4.4
User Rating: 0.0 (0 votes)
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Justin Phelps

Justin Phelps

Co-Founder at Saint Brewis
Justin Phelps is a Certified Cicerone® who was born and raised in St. Louis. His passion for beer goes beyond just drinking it as he is also an award-winning home brewer. While he may be a marketing professional by day, he's a blogger, brewery hopper, and beer enthusiast by night.

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