Bourbon Barrel Aged Belgium Imperial Stout
Thirsty Dog Brewing Company

 

Pour is jet black with a caramel brown head. Nose has a nice balance of oak and lightly roasty malt, full malt profile of rich dark malt, dark chocolate, and virtually no sweetness. Taste isn't quite as balanced but still nice. The barrel is woody, slightly charred, a bit overpowering as the malt doesn't shine through as much. The bourbon is there, what malt is there is rich dry chocolate, a bit of fudge to it, dry finish, nice carb and fuller body.

 

 

 

64 ounce growler
Served in a snifter

A - This beer is black as coal. It is topped with less than an inch of cocoa head.

S - The aroma consists of anise, chocolate, and a little bourbon.

T - The taste has some coffee, dark chocolate and anise. The bourbon is apparent as well as some vanilla. I do taste some alcohol as it warms.

M - Full and creamy.

O - I think this beer is fantastic. I was told that it is barrel aged Siberian Night with Belgian yeast. Anything with Siberian Night as a base is a great beer. I really love what Thirsty Dog is doing with their barrel aged beers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Served from growler into a sampler shaker. Poured pitch black with a minimal brown head. Maintained decent lacing throughout the glass. The aroma was comprised of roasted malt, dark chocolate, fruit, wood, and vanilla. The flavor was of roasted malt, dark fruit, fruit, subtle vanilla, and dark chocolate. It had a heavy feel on the palate with medium carbonation. Overall this was a pretty decent brew. While I can appreciate what they were trying to do here by adding the Belgian yeast strain to a solid brew, I kind of feel that it was not needed. It does a new spin on the base brew, but the base brew is so solid that I don’t see it as being necessary. Some of the Belgian yeast aspect on this one kind of hurt some of the balance that I really like about the base brew. Unfortunately this one fell short of what I was hoping that it could be. Worth trying to say that you have done so though.

 

Buddy of mine brought this over from Grapevine--checked their Facebook page to confirm the name.

Very little head. Just a pitch black, underwhelming look. The nose is more impressive, and there's a hop there that substantiates the hop legs I see on the glass. Not much of a Belgian smell, but I KNOW this isn't BBA Siberian Night b/c it's ALSO on a Grapevine (w/ their bourbon wee heavy)! Really smooth, it's creamy like an oatmeal stout. There's a tad tartness I'll attribute to the Belgian influence, but there's also hop presence reminiscent of Night Stalker w/o the bitterness. Overall, a pretty impressive beer!