Deschutes is known for releasing weird and wonderful limited edition brews, some good, and some just weird. Mirror Mirror, luckily, falls into the former category.
This 2009 reserve oozes class. Black wax covers the top quarter of the bottle, and the label looks like that of a nice wine. Fitting, then, that this ale (classified as a barleywine) is aged in oak barrels.
Pouring, the beer is a deep red color, and gives a nice smell of cherry. The cherry carries over into the flavor, which also as an oaky hint to it, and is lightly creamy on the tongue. At 11% it actually tastes a lot milder than it is, but there is certainly a nice complexity to the flavor all the same. And, equally important, it’s really refreshing.
You can find a bottle at Yoke’s at Argonne, and I’m sure it’s available other places around town too.