New brewery alert! For me anyway. I’m currently drinking my first beer from the Brewmaster Jack brewery of Northampton, Massachusetts: Tennessee Prinse Quadruple Ale Aged in Whiskey Barrels. Ashamed to say this as an old New Englander myself, but I moved south to Georgia in 2001-10 years before Brewmaster Jack opened their doors in 2011.

Tennessee Prinse sounds more like a beer from the south than the north, but after the brewery explains it you’ll understand better.

Tennessee Prinse begins its life as our base Quadrupel Ale, Prinsipia. Named after Newton's most famous work, Prinsipia gives wonderful flavors of candied plum, brown sugar, biscuits, tobacco, and cherries. With precise planning, the beer is transferred into oak barrels which, less than two weeks prior, have been emptied of Tennessee Whiskey. The barrels allow flavors to mellow but also infuse notes of vanilla and toffee.

While Brewmaster Jack’s offices are in Northampton, their beers are produced about 8 miles away under contract by Brewmasters Brewing Services in Williamsburg, Massachusetts.

Tennessee Prinse Quadruple Ale Aged in Whiskey Barrels has an alcohol content of 11.5% by Volume. This is a seasonal selection released in October.

The label lists ingredients of:

Water, malted barley, beet sugar, date sugar, hops, yeast.

Brewmaster Jack Tennessee Prinse Quadruple Ale Aged in Whiskey Barrels pours to a dark brownish black color with a light creamy tan head and a rich whiskey soaked raisin nose. Taking a sip, the beer is full and robust with a dark maltiness, light sourness, dark raisiny-prune and date fruitiness and whiskey finish. It’s lighter in body than I expected and doesn’t seem as strong as it is (but still has alcohol warmth in the finish).

A wonderful and complex sipping beer to be sure. 



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