Kentucky Ales Old Fashioned Barrel Ale (6/10)

Generally speaking, I like Kentucky Ales' line of barrel aged beers.  They aren't anything exceptional, but they're solid beers with a good barrel-aged flavor to them and are easy to drink. They are also easy to find, being on most store shelves around town.  This makes them an easy go-to beer if I'm in a hurry to grab something.

Old Fashioned Barrel Ale attempts to replicate the experience of drinking the cocktail known as an Old Fashioned, combined with a barrel aged beer.

The beer pours a clear copper color, bordering on mahogany, with a thin beige head that doesn't last long.

The aroma is malty and oaky. There's a hint of fruit but this is mostly subdued.

The flavor starts malty, mildly sweet, and oaky.  A slight warming note is felt at the back of the throat. The cherries and orange peel mentioned on the label are detectable but only barely so.

I give the beer only a 6 out of 10.  Reviewers on Beer Advocate liked it quite a bit more, giving it an 85 out of 100 or "very good" rating.  RateBeer's reviewers were tougher on it, rating the beer only a 48 overall.

The beer can be found at many Columbus area retailers, including most large grocery chains.

Actual Brewing Temporal Abbey Ale (6/10)

Back in late March, I picked up a bottle of Actual Brewing's Temporal Abbey Ale.  This review is based on notes taken at the time I sampled it.

Temporal pours amber color with some orange to it. It has a creamy beige head that lasts a while.

The aroma is malty with a hint of sourness to it.

The flavor starts with malt and hops in balance and then the hops swells up slightly and a kind of sour funk appears. The finish is bitter and lingers a bit. On balance, it's not what I expect from an abbey ale so I can't say I'm overly fond of it.

As of this writing, there are only 3 reviews on Beer Advocate.  These score it at 3.79, 2.81, and 3.82 out of 5.  If you average those scores and convert them to a 10-point scale like the one I use, it works out to a 6.94.  So other reviewers seem to like Temporal a little more than I do, but not a lot.

I've seen this beer on a number of store shelves around town, most notably Kenny Road Market.

Actual Brewing Woodford Reserve Barrel Aged Red Ale (7/10)

Actual Brewing of Columbus has produced a number of very nice beers.  When I had the opportunity to sample their Woodford Reserve Barrel Aged Red Ale, I didn't hesitate.

Although I'm not a huge bourbon fan, I did learn (thanks to a sampler at The Winking Lizard a couple of years ago) that I do like Woodford Reserve's bourbon.  Since I also like several of Actual Brewing's beers and barrel-aged beers in general, it seemed like a match made in beer fanatic heaven.

The beer pours a medium brown with finger thick white head that lasts a little while, then leaves behind line like lacing as you can see in the photo.

The aroma is malty and oaky, hinting at the bourbon flavoring in the beer.

The flavor is roasted malt at the start, then the bourbon and oak flavors rise up, followed by hops bitterness.  It's pretty well-balanced, though a tad dry and hoppy for my taste.

I give the beer a 7 out of 10 overall, which means I like it but simply don't love it.  You'll have to go with my opinion on this, as there's nothing on Beer Advocate or Rate Beer for it as of this writing.

I haven't seen the beer anywhere other than The Daily Growler, and it's long been off the menu there.