Live review: Brown's Brewing Co. Whiskey Barrel Aged Porter . . .

Beer-tasting in progress: Sometimes I will review beers by tasting them and jotting down notes, then writing the results up later.

Sometimes, like now, it’s a live-blogging exercise.

I was checking out at Oliver’s Beverage in Albany, N.Y., this afternoon. It’s the best beer store – bar none – in the Capital Region of New York, say from Kingston, NY up toward the Canadian border and west to Utica.

I was chatting with the cashier-guy about Wolff’s Bier Garten, and he asked me if I knew that Brown’s Brewing (from Troy) had its Whiskey Barrel Aged Porter out. (It’s part of their “Seasonal Sessional” line.

I said I’d had it on draft (in fact, I had discovered it on draft at the Man of Kent Tavern in Hoosick, N.Y., after the brew pub had run out.)

No, he said, they have bottled it and sent someone to get a 22-ounce bomber ($7.95, I think). It nicely filled my box. It checks in at 5.75 percent alcohol (yay for hundredths).

It pours a very deep brown with very little head. You can smell the whiskey in the nose.

The whiskey is very strong at the top of the palate and into the sinuses. It’s got a very long finish and actually makes you salivate under the tongue at the end. The taste settles in very quickly. It’s not nearly as strong after the first several sips. It also gets a touch bitter as it warms up, but not to a great degree.

It’s a fairly medium-range porter – heavier than most but lighter than some. It tastes better when it’s colder.

Definitely a bomber to share with a couple of other people. It’s a tough one to drink by yourself.