Blue Mountain Barrel House Dark Hollow Chocolate & Coffee Aged

With my February Rare Beer of the Month Club, I received a bottle of Blue Mountain Barrel House Dark Hollow Chocolate & Coffee Aged. The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan colored head. The aroma is bold with toasted malts, dark Belgian chocolate, coffee, espresso, vanilla, cherry, and caramel. The taste is rich with dark chocolate, sweet with vanilla and coffee, and has a solid toasted malt base. A dry oakiness arrives with a twist of cherry. The alcohol content is 10.0% ABV. What a wonderful beer this was! It was full of a variety of flavors and the cherry accents from the bourbon really made it, and I would highly recommend this beer.

Troegs Scratch 87- Bourbon Barrel Troegenator

I stopped in to the Troegs tasting room eagerly to get a glass of Scratch 87- Bourbon Barrel Troegenator. For those that don’t know, Troegenator is one of my favorite beers and definitely a go-to beer for me. Therefore, barrel aging this beer was the best idea I’ve heard. The beer pours a dark caramel color with a fizzy and bubbly cream colored head that recedes quickly. The, aroma consists of caramel, raisin, coconut, vanilla, and a hint of bourbon. The taste is smooth with caramel on the front end. A wonderful toasted coconut accent arrives accompanied with vanilla. Oak hints carry raisin to the back of the throat and it finishes with alcohol and pepper spice. The alcohol content is 11.5% ABV. Oh my, my, my was this beer amazing. The bourbon plays so well with the doppelbock since the biting alcohol flavor pierces the sweet body. The oak added a great character and the toasted coconut was most memorable.

FiftyFifty Brewing Eclipse 2012

As was done last year, a group of friends and I went in on some FiftyFifty Brewing Eclipse barrel aged beers. This year, we tried the following:

Blue (Old Fitzgerald) - This version had light bourbon aroma fronted by a lot of chocolate. The taste was smooth and dry with a good bourbon flavor that actually thins out the thickness of the stout in the mouth.

Green (Rittenhouse Rye) - Just like in 2011, the Rye had a strong bourbon aroma with accents of rye, pepper, and oak. The taste was bold with the bourbon and very forward, bringing out the spicy rye flavor. Surprisingly, it has a smooth but dry finish.

Beige (Bernheim Wheat) - The aroma had a faint alcohol smell and was mostly dominated by chocolate. The Wheat also provided very faint accents to the taste from the aging. It was a little dry on the finish and almost sweet cherry and and vanilla accents. This beer mostly accented the honey, making it the sweetest of the bunch.

Black (Evan Williams) - The aroma had sweet and smooth bourbon accents, cherry, and vanilla. The taste brought out cherry, vanilla, chocolate, and toasted malts. A lightly dry finish with some alcohol burn arrived, but it was not overpowering and very complimentary.

Purple (Elijah Craig 12-yr) - There was a sweet cherry and vanilla bourbon aroma with a nice background of chocolate. The taste was smooth and sweet with bourbon and vanilla. Hints of cherry arrive with a lightly dry finish before caramel and honey surfaces.

Metallic Gold (Mellow Corn) - This one absolutely smelled like whiskey with some chocolate and alcohol burn. The taste was surprisingly smooth before a very dry alcohol burn that lingers for a good while. This one also brought out lots of honey and was sweet on the tongue.

I’d say it was a tie for Evan Williams and Rittenhouse Rye for me this year based on the ones that I tried in this sample. I know last year my favorite was the Elijah Craig 18-year, so it would have been interesting to see how it stood up against these two. While the Mellow Corn and the Bernheim Wheat version were sweeter and not as intense, there were no bad versions like the Red Roses from 2011.

Pizza Boy Brewing Pappy

I went to Al’s of Hampden when he tapped his own Pizza Boy Brewing Pappy, a Pappy Van Winkle aged imperial stout. The beer pours a black color with a thin filmy tan colored head. The aroma consists of strong bourbon, oak, chocolate, vanilla, and cherry. The taste is very bold and strong with bourbon on the front end that attacks the tongue. The flavor profile is laced with alcohol and gives off oak hints built upon a dark chocolate background. Caramel, coffee, vanilla, and cherry also make some intermediate appearances. The alcohol content is 10.5% ABV. If you love bourbon barrel aged beers, this one is for you. While the bourbon doesn’t overpower the hefty stout, it certainly makes its presence known and yield cherry and vanilla accents into the beer.

Grand Teton Black Cauldron

For the December shipment of the Michael Jackson Rare Beer of the Month Club, I received a bottle of Grand Teton Black Cauldron, a stout aged in bourbon barrels. The beer pours a black color with a lofty and frothy tan colored head. The aroma consists of bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, toasted malts, oak, and a hint of cherry. The aroma consists of sweet milk chocolate flavor with a strong bourbon presence on the front end. Vanilla and cherry appear before toasted malts and oak arrive and dry out the finish. The alcohol content is 7.85% ABV. The bourbon played very well with the stout and its chocolate and toasted malt flavors. My favorite part was the finish as the oak and toasted malts dried out the mouth a lot, but also provided the complexity needed to make it a wonderful beer.

Crooked Stave Sentience Wild Quadrupel Aged in Cognac Barrels

With my Cellar Reserve membership from Crooked Stave, I ordered a bottle of Sentience Wild Quadrupel aged in cognac barrels. The beer pours a brown color with a very thin and bubbly off-white colored head that last milliseconds. The aroma consists of strong cognac, oak, cherry, raisin, fig, and date. The taste is sour and tart with cherry and vinegar on the front end before strong cognac flavor take over. A raisin, fig, and date sweetness provides some backbone before and oaky and vinegary finish that actually makes the mouth water for more. It has a relatively flat mouthfeel. The alcohol content is 11.5% ABV. This was a wonderful blend of flavors from the sour and tart to the sweet and fruity, all bridged by strong but not overpowering cognac and oak flavors. This is a must try for sour lovers.

Crooked Stave Chardonnay Barrel Aged Surette Reserva

While at the Crooked Stave barrel room, my friends and I ordered a glass of Surette Reserva Chardonnay Barrel Aged to share. The beer pours an orange-tinted golden color with almost no head. Some white bubbles did appear, but they were few and far between. The aroma is tart and consists of vinegar, lemon, and chardonnay. The taste is also tart with a light pucker. Lemon, wheat, vinegar, oak, chardonnay, and white grapes all find their time on the tongue. The alcohol content is 6.2% ABV. This is one of the better beers that I have ever tasted. The grape and chaddonay flavors the infused the lemony and tart beer played so well with the oak flavors. I'm glad I have a few bottles of this to let aged and see how it develops.

Dry Dock The Ambassador

Another beer made available to the Colorado Brewer's Guild Brunch at Freshcraft was Dry Dock's The Ambassador, a barrel aged sour. The beer pours a golden color with specks of white colored head floating atop the liquid. The aroma consists of vinegar, funk, tart cherry, oak, and lemon. The taste is tart and very puckering with lemon, wheat, and tart cherry. A dry oak finish accompanied with plenty of vinegar all around rounded out the flavors. The alcohol content is 6.2% ABV. The Ambassador was an,amazing beer that announces its sour presence with all of vigor of vinegar.

Mud Hound Brewing Company Barrel Aged Oatmeal Stout

I was given a bottle of Mud Hound Brewing Company Barrel Aged Oatmeal Stout by one of the brewers . The beer pours a black color with a very lofty and frothy tan colored head that leaves specks of lacing on the glass as it subsides. The aroma consists of oat, milk, toasted malts, oak, whiskey, rye, vanilla, and lots of caramel. The taste is dry but smooth and has milk, cherry, chocolate, vanilla, and toasted malt flavors on the front end. It dries out even further on the finish with whiskey, rye, and oak. The alcohol content is 6.5% ABV. This beer played very nicely balancing the smooth and sweet flavors with the dry and oaky flavors, all combining to make a rather complex and enjoyable beer.

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel Cognac Barrel Aged Version

My buddy Ed brought over a bottle of Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel Cognac Barrel Aged Version to share. The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan colored head. The aroma consists of cognac, coffee, oak, chocolate, and is boozy. The taste is bold and boozy with chocolate, coffee, milk, and toasted malts. The finish brings out the cognac flavor with plenty of oak dryness. The alcohol content is 10.9% ABV. This was a pretty solid beer with a great cognac flavor added to it. The oak dryness in the finish really rounded out the flavor to this beer and made it a great tasting beer.

Greal Lakes Barrel Aged Blackout Stout

In a beer trade with Cleveland Food and Brews, I received a bottle of Great Lakes Barrel Aged Blackout Stout. The beer pours a black color with a bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, toasted malts, and alcohol. The taste is bold and chocolaty with lots of bourbon and vanilla. Some cherry flavor peeks through and the beer finishes with alcohol, oak, and toasted malts, yielding a dry mouth feel. The alcohol content is 9.5% ABV. This was one of the better barrel aged beers that I have ever tried, and I would say drinking it is heavenly. It is very boozy, but the base beer is strong enough to withstand the extra punch.

Mikkeller From Via To Barrel Aged Bourbon

I picked up a bottle of Mikkeller From Via To Barrel Aged Bourbon from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours a black color with an extremely lofty and frothy tan head that takes a while to fade. The aroma consists of bourbon, vanilla, chocolate, toasted malts, and caramel. The taste is smooth and chocolaty with a nice bourbon accent that isn’t too biting and adds a good vanilla flavor to it. Some caramel and toasted malts come out in the finish with a nice dryness. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. This was quite a well done bourbon barrel aged beer that wasn’t too overdone. The baltic porter base still has a large presence in this glass, and was not impaired by the bourbon flavors.

Hoppin' Frog Frosted Frog's Christmas Barrel Aged Christmas Ale

I was fortunate enough to have Heather Holmes pick me up a bottle of Hoppin’ Frog Frosted Frog’s Christmas Barrel Aged Christmas Ale from the brewery. I previously had the non-barrel aged beer, and was excited to try this one. The beer pours a dark amber color with a thin filmy off-white colored head. The aroma consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel, allspice, vanilla, and bourbon. The taste is spicy and has plenty of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice on the front end. However, in comparison to the non-barrel aged version of this beer, the bourbon and vanilla sweetens and rounds out the flavor in the finish. The alcohol content is 8.6% ABV. While I didn’t hate the non-barrel aged version, this version was infinitely better, as the bourbon barrel aging smoothed out the spiciness, especially in the finish. The alcohol warmth added a true touch of Christmas, exactly what was missing from the beer before.

Shmaltz Brewing He'brew Genesis 15:15 Barrel Aged Harvest Barleywine Ale

My buddy Ed brought me back a bottle of Shmaltz Brewing He’brew Genesis 15:15 Barrel Aged Harvest Barleywine Ale from Atlanta. The beer pours a dark cherry color with a frothy tan head that leaves some lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of fig, raisin, pomegranate juice, grape juice, whiskey, cocoa powder, rye, and dates. The taste is sweet at first with plenty of raisin, date, and fig before a slight souring with pomegranate juice. There is a dark chocolate finish that is balanced very well with oak, whiskey, and rye. The after taste is light on grape juice, but a warmth takes over in the back of the mouth with some pepper. The alcohol content is 13.4% ABV. For as high alcohol content as this beer has and for as much as it does announce its presence, it was quite smooth and had a nice sweetness to it. The light fruitiness really makes the beer enjoyable, and the dry oakiness and rye stayed behind and made me remember this beer.

Crabtree Brewing Syzygy Barrel-Aged Black IPA

I received a bottle of Crabtree Brewing Syzygy Barrel-Aged Black IPA from Lee of Hoptopia in a beer trade. The beer pours a black color with a lofty and frothy tan head with a light amount of lacing on the glass. The aroma consists of chocolate, lemon, oak, and caramel. The taste has a solid toasted malt and chocolate base with a slight sour lemon pucker on the side of the mouth. There is some pine and pepper that comes out in the finish, and the after taste leaves some caramel and oak behind on the tongue. The alcohol content is 8.0% ABV. This was a solid Black IPA that definitely benefited from the barrel aging process, as the dry oakiness really added a nice complexity to the beer.

Avery Immitis Barrel-Aged Sour Ale

As part of a beer trade with Lee from Hoptopia, I received a bottle of Avery Immitis Barrel-Aged Sour Ale. The beer pours a dark brown color with a bubbly tan head that receded rapidly. The aroma consists of vinegar, chocolate, cherry, and toasted malts. The taste is extremely puckering with sour cherry, vinegar, grapes from the zinfandel barrels, and a hint of toasted malts. There is a bit of chocolate on the finish that barely pokes through due to the sourness, and a dry oaky after taste. The alcohol content is 9.87% ABV. I was extremely surprised as to how sour and puckering this beer was, but it was phenomenal. The sourness lingers with a tart cherry flavor for quite a while, and I loved the chocolaty background that this beer was built upon.

Mikkeller Barrel-Aged Black Hole Series (Part II)

I previously reviewed the first four Black Hole beers from Mikkeller, those being the Bourbon, Whiskey, Red Wine, and Rum barrel aged beers. I picked up two more, the White Wine and Tequila, from Stateline Liquors, leaving only the Cognac for another time. As with the previous beers, the Black Hole pours a black color with a frothy tan head, and both versions here looked very similar.

The Black Hole in white wine barrels has an aroma that consists of chocolate, vanilla, toasted malts, grapes, and sugar. The taste is smooth and sweet with lots of chocolate and toasted malts. There is a faint dry white wine accent before the alcohol warmth kicks in and a coffee finish. Overall, this was similar to the red wine barrel aged Black Hole in that the wine isn't overbearing and difficult to detect. It only adds a slight accent of grapes and sugar, while helping dry out the finish.

The Black Hole in tequila barrels is a completely different story. The aroma is not as tequila-y as I expected but it was there and covers most of the flavors in the nose with some faint coffee and chocolate in there as well and a slight sweetness with agave fruit. The taste is wonderful and might be my favorite of the versions I have tried. The chocolate and tequila go well together, a sort of Heaven and Hell mix. The tequila version allows a dry coffee finish to come out and is overall pretty dry as well.

Hoppin' Frog B.O.R.I.S. Barrel Aged Oatmeal Imperial Stout

I finally gave in to my inhibition to buy a bottle of Hoppin’ Frog B.O.R.I.S. Barrel Aged Oatmeal Imperial Stout from Al’s of Hampden. The beer pours a thick black color with a lofty and frothy bubbly tan head. The aroma consists of whiskey, peat, chocolate, lots of coffee, espresso, vanilla, licorice, and oak. The taste is dry and biting with the whiskey coming on the front end of the beer. After the whiskey punch is finished, the flavor sweetens with vanilla, chocolate, and licorice. The finish dries out a little bit with some coffee and espresso, and the after taste leaves some oak remnants. The alcohol content is 9.4% ABV. This was a wonderfully smooth beer despite the sharp whiskey bite that accompanies the beer. I enjoyed the boat load of flavors, from coffee to chocolate, all accented nicely with a touch of vanilla.

The Brew Works Barrel Aged Insidious Imperial Stout

With the announcement of a Bourbon Barrel Aged Insidious, I decided that trip to The Brew Works in Bethlehem was in order. The beer pours a black color with thin filmy tan head. The aroma consists of chocolate with oak and Bourbon. The taste is lively and bitey with plenty of bubbles and a sharp Bourbon pinch on the front end. Next, the chocolate, toasted malts, and light coffee flavors kick in. The best part of the beer was the oak and vanilla finish, which was both sweet and smooth and balanced the Bourbon perfectly. The alcohol content is 9.0% ABV. As stated before, the finish on this beer was immaculate, and the Bourbon was a welcomed addition to the Insidious profile.