Dragon's Milk Solera

One of the things that I tend to notice is how one item from a producer "becomes the brand". Good examples of this are Mountain Dew and Cheerios. Original versions of both were stalwarts for years. Their marketing people extended the brand by labelling drinks that had no resemblance to Mountain Dew as Mountain Dew [added descriptor]. Cheerios was slightly different. Plain ol' Cheerios spawned a whole family of cereals that sometimes had nothing in common with the original other than the shape. New Holland Brewing has started to turn Dragon's Milk into a brand. As an Ill-Gotten Booty reader, you've seen several versions of Dragon's Milk ales.  

Trying out different beers can be an educational experience. The description of Dragon's Milk Solera contains a few terms that I was unfamiliar with:

"Aged in a series of oak foeders using a blending technique known as solera ..."

* A foeder (pronounced 'foo-der') is basically just a large barrel. Here's some more detail:

https://beerconnoisseur.com/articles/what-foeder

* Solera is a process for aging wine, beer, vinegar or brandy by 'fractional blending' in such a way that the finished product is a mixture of ages. It is most typically used of 'fortified wine' varieties such as sherry, Port, Madeira or Marsala, but also rum or brandy. Here's a good article explaining the process:

https://thewhiskeywash.com/whiskey-science/solera-whiskey-real-historic-fraction/

Dragon's Milk Solera pours a hazy chestnut, with a thin tan head. The 10% ABV provides a boozy haze that immediately tickles the nostrils.There is so much going on. Before it warms up, the oak from the foeders is up front, as is the bourbon and vanilla. As the ale achieves room temperature the dark fruits appear, especially figs. Brown sugar, dates, black cherries, and caramel pop up as the level of liquid decreases. There are some similarities to a high-end barleywine, less so to an imperial brown ale. Very different than previous iterations of Dragon's Milk, but that's marketing.