Bourbon Cask Dark Ale
Innis & Gunn
- From:
- Innis & Gunn
- Scotland, United Kingdom
- Style:
- Scottish Ale
Ranked #13 - ABV:
- 7.4%
- Score:
- 87
Ranked #23,077 - Avg:
- 3.87 | pDev: 12.4%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 37
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Mar 19, 2025
- Added:
- Dec 30, 2014
- Wants:
- 6
- Gots:
- 30
SCORE
87
Very Good
87
Very Good
No description / notes.
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Reviewed by Sinfull from New York
3.53/5 rDev -8.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
3.53/5 rDev -8.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.5
Brown color. Medium-sized head. Caramel malt, vanilla, wood, and a hint of chocolate in the aroma. Moderate sweetness in taste. Some bourbon notes. Decent beer.
Mar 19, 2025
Reviewed by maximum12 from Minnesota
3/5 rDev -22.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
3/5 rDev -22.5%
look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
An 11.2 oz. bottle, marking it as European. Rescued from the back of the fridge.
Very dark brown with a slip of red deep inside. The nose is spare: minimal vanilla, sweet malt.
Bourbon Cask Dark Ale is dull. Like the nose there is a bit of sweet malt, vanilla, with the addition of a touch of bourbon thrown in. A bit thin, even accounting for the middling ABV. One could drink plenty of this, assuming one didn’t die of boredom first.
It’s beer. Really average, uninteresting beer.
Jun 10, 2023Very dark brown with a slip of red deep inside. The nose is spare: minimal vanilla, sweet malt.
Bourbon Cask Dark Ale is dull. Like the nose there is a bit of sweet malt, vanilla, with the addition of a touch of bourbon thrown in. A bit thin, even accounting for the middling ABV. One could drink plenty of this, assuming one didn’t die of boredom first.
It’s beer. Really average, uninteresting beer.
Reviewed by Cwrw from Canada (AB)
3.46/5 rDev -10.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
3.46/5 rDev -10.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.25 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Picked this up in a fancy box, a miniature emulation of a Scotch package. The bottle says "Carefully matured" so I KNOW they haven't been remiss in their maturation duties.
Pours into my tulip glass with a nice fine head, off white and the beer itself is pretty dark, a deep cola colour. Looks nice. A good lacing falls behind as I swirl. Head disappeared quick but it stuck around as a ring of small bubbles.
A strong lactic aroma hit me as soon as I poured--this is very milky. Chocolate, and the dark malting of an imperial stout came after. Some raisins, a slight hit of coffee, and some dank cardboard aromas. It's not bad. Prunes and licorice appear as it warms, and there is a definite cocoa hit at a certain point. I don't get a hell of a lot of the Bourbon cask, but the aroma is very pleasant, and I would swear I was about to drink an imperial stout. Not the most complex I've ever tried, but very appetising!
I always get mouthfeel before I get flavour, and this lands somewhere in the middle. It's not light-bodied by any means, but less chewy than I expected. However it's nice and effervescent and pillowy on the tongue--medium to full bodied. Flavour seems oversweet, to me. It's decent enough on he front of the tongue, but as it goes down it's extremely sweet--like chocolate raisins frosted with sugar. Very sugary. Next to no hopping or dryness in the finish, which leaves a sticky, candied feeling in the mouth. However, the taste is nice despite all that. Like the aroma, it's not overly complex, but it has some nice licorice, sweet coffee, and sugary raisins. It's pretty smooth for sure. But it's bizarre: I normally love a strong malty-sweet beer, but this one just seems to cross my personal threshold. It's like a tablespoon of brown sugar. Again, it's not bad, just could do with some hopping or a little less cloying sweetness.
Not sure I'd buy again because of the aforementioned issues. It's a good beer, for sure. I wish there was some more bourbon and a little less sugar. Still, I had no problem finishing this bottle--I just expected a little more.
Jul 10, 2018Pours into my tulip glass with a nice fine head, off white and the beer itself is pretty dark, a deep cola colour. Looks nice. A good lacing falls behind as I swirl. Head disappeared quick but it stuck around as a ring of small bubbles.
A strong lactic aroma hit me as soon as I poured--this is very milky. Chocolate, and the dark malting of an imperial stout came after. Some raisins, a slight hit of coffee, and some dank cardboard aromas. It's not bad. Prunes and licorice appear as it warms, and there is a definite cocoa hit at a certain point. I don't get a hell of a lot of the Bourbon cask, but the aroma is very pleasant, and I would swear I was about to drink an imperial stout. Not the most complex I've ever tried, but very appetising!
I always get mouthfeel before I get flavour, and this lands somewhere in the middle. It's not light-bodied by any means, but less chewy than I expected. However it's nice and effervescent and pillowy on the tongue--medium to full bodied. Flavour seems oversweet, to me. It's decent enough on he front of the tongue, but as it goes down it's extremely sweet--like chocolate raisins frosted with sugar. Very sugary. Next to no hopping or dryness in the finish, which leaves a sticky, candied feeling in the mouth. However, the taste is nice despite all that. Like the aroma, it's not overly complex, but it has some nice licorice, sweet coffee, and sugary raisins. It's pretty smooth for sure. But it's bizarre: I normally love a strong malty-sweet beer, but this one just seems to cross my personal threshold. It's like a tablespoon of brown sugar. Again, it's not bad, just could do with some hopping or a little less cloying sweetness.
Not sure I'd buy again because of the aforementioned issues. It's a good beer, for sure. I wish there was some more bourbon and a little less sugar. Still, I had no problem finishing this bottle--I just expected a little more.
Reviewed by HoppingMadMonk from New Jersey
4/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev +3.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Almost solid black color,low carbonation with an above average body. Aroma is dark fruit,malt,plum, and an oak/woody smell.
Taste is similar,aroma made me think it would be sweet but it wasn't and actually came off dry.
The oak really shows up in the middle and starts to dominate. Base beer is excellent, the oak dominated a bit too much but still a very good beer
Jul 08, 2018Taste is similar,aroma made me think it would be sweet but it wasn't and actually came off dry.
The oak really shows up in the middle and starts to dominate. Base beer is excellent, the oak dominated a bit too much but still a very good beer
Reviewed by dertyd from California
3.06/5 rDev -20.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
3.06/5 rDev -20.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 3 | overall: 3
The beer pours out a dark brown color, with a thin khaki colored head------------ the aromas are of roasted malts, Carmel, oak and light vanilla---------------- the flavors are of light Carmel, light toffee, light minerality, light whiskey and light oak(everything was light) the beer has a thin mouthfeel with a light bitterness on the finish---------------- overall this beer tasted like a boring brown ale with a splash of whiskey, it's not my cup of tea-----
Jun 01, 2018Rated by TijuanaTovar from North Carolina
1.53/5 rDev -60.5%
look: 4 | smell: 1 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5
1.53/5 rDev -60.5%
look: 4 | smell: 1 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1.5 | overall: 1.5
Smelled like fungus and gym socks. Infected bottle? For shelfies, Backwoods bastard is light years better. Disappointed.
Apr 07, 2018
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho
3/5 rDev -22.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
3/5 rDev -22.5%
look: 3.25 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
Bottle from Brewers Haven. Dark, near black, small foamy head. Aroma is mostly the roast malts, some if the earthy peaty notes. Taste too is squarely on the dark malts, little evidence of the bourbon Barrels. Kind of weak
Mar 29, 2018
Reviewed by patre_tim from Thailand
4.04/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4.04/5 rDev +4.4%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Dark brown with a ruby tinge, moderate carbonation and 2 fingers of beige head.
Smells of bananas, with hints of bourbon, rum, and cocoa.
Tastes of bourbon, with dark cocoa, chocolate, banana, rum, and dark toasted malts.
Medium body, with moderate carbonation.
Really good brew. Love the style. Drinking in Muskoka, Dec 11th, 2017.
Dec 12, 2017Smells of bananas, with hints of bourbon, rum, and cocoa.
Tastes of bourbon, with dark cocoa, chocolate, banana, rum, and dark toasted malts.
Medium body, with moderate carbonation.
Really good brew. Love the style. Drinking in Muskoka, Dec 11th, 2017.
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