Troll Juice India Black Ale with Sherry Barrel Chips

When people asked me what I was brewing, I'd say, "It's some kinda oaked American IBA with British... ah, just shut up and drink it." So I decided to call it Troll Juice.

This is the recipe for Troll Juice:

7 lbs Briess Dark DME
1/3 lb Chocolate Malt
1/3 lb Briess Caramel 120L
1/3 lb Briess Caramel 40L

1.5 oz Cascade Hops @ 60 min
.5 oz Cascade @ 30 min
1 oz Cascade @ 10 min
1 oz Cascade @ 5 min
1 oz Cascade @ flameout

Ferment with Wyeast 1335

Add 1.25 oz steamed Sherry Barrel Chips to secondary for two weeks

This was mainly an experiment to try out some sherry barrel chips, but I'm pretty pleased with the overall result. Even at just 1.25 oz of these chips from used sherry barrels, the flavor is prominent. Fruit and funk pop out of the glass - some aromas of pineapple, cantaloupe, and honestly something a bit like those scented markers we had in grade school, all with a citrusy twang behind it. The flavor is smooth, round from the oak but with not much burnt flavor and considerable high notes - I'd swear that there was coriander in there if I didn't know better. Though this is a bitter beer, the sherry chips contributed a lot of sweetness. Odd that a beer would be bitter and sweet at the same time, but this is it. I think that oak sweetness tastes quite a bit different than crystal malt sweetness does.

Not like any beer I've ever had before.