The Guinness Open Gate Brewery near Baltimore, Maryland doesn’t just brew the ubiquitous Guinness Stout; it’s also home to an experimental brewery and taproom that cranks out a variety of distinctly non-Guinness-Stout beers. Like this Old Fashioned Inspired Ale that the brewery sent to me to review.

Based on the old fashioned, the whiskey-based cocktail that mixes whiskey with sugar, bitters, and water, and garnished with orange peel and a cherry, the Guinness version starts with base beer of an English-style barleywine and ages it in Kentucky bourbon barrels. After six months, it’s finished with orange and sweet cherry purees, with the end result being 10.5% alcohol by volume.

It’s far from the first beer to be inspired by the cocktail, but it’s right in line for the experimental brewhouse. While I can’t say to be an aficionado of the old fashioned (I rarely drink them), overall I do think this particular beer represents it well. My notes:

Appearance: Bright amber-copper color with orange glints at the edges, quite clear. Off-white fizzy head, which didn’t last.

Smell: Big bourbon nose with oaky vanilla and a touch of sharp wood, with fruity notes of maraschino cherry, some orange peel. Boozy and probably fairly faithful to the cocktail.

Taste: Sweet bourbon ale—a somewhat malty strong amber ale with low hops and notes of brown sugar, bourbon, vanilla. The cocktail fruit flavors are there, and I’d say it tastes like a sweet version of the cocktail. Sweet cherry, light orange, caramel sweetness. There is a lot of “sweet” happening here.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, sweet, slightly boozy going into the finish.

Overall: “Sweet” seems to be the overall theme here, but it pretty well nails the experience of an old fashioned, I think.