Moo Brew Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
Moorilla Estate

2010 vintage - poured into a pint. Assuming it is brewed in winter it is about 4.5 years old. Bottle 1756 of 2500.

A - Pours pitch black with a medium body mocha head. Good head retention that dissipated to leave some lacing
S - Caramel toasted malts. Vanilla and some hints of chocolate. Some oakiness and Vanilla coming through from the barrel - I believe they use old wine barrels, which is nice - no booziness or any hard alcohol notes
T - Big soft and subtle caramel malts. Slight hints of chocolate with vanilla over the top. A crisp bitterness from the roasted malt on the finish. Very moorish - could drink a lot of this (shame I only have one!)
M - a bit lighter on the body, but expected for such an aged brew. A touch too much carbonation leaves a prickly sensation, but overall a silky soft mouth feel

Overall this is a bloody fantastic barrel aged stout - it has held up to aging extremely well and is drinking beautifully. I know I have no chance of ever tracking more down, but I am super glad I got to try this - very very good.

 

 

Bottle from BobbyHeenan. Cheers!

From a bottle into a snifter
Vintage: 2012
ABV: 8.5%
Bottle 2053 of 2500

APPEARANCE: A clear brown pour yields a 3+ finger, medium looking, crackly, light tan head with good retention. Bistre brown in color with slightly higher levels of carbonation for the style. Head is rather looser and foamy. Slowly fades to a foamy cap leaving some sticky lacing to the glass. Full foam cap remains leaving some chunky lacing down the glass.

SMELL: Leather, oak, tart wine with light milk chocolate and toffee on the nose. Tart note resembles an oak and white wine combo.

TASTE: Not much stout here really. Light oak and white wine up front, then a slightly tart and woody finish. Bolder and lingering aftertaste of oak, white wine, light milk chocolate and sweet cream. The tartness from the barrels is alright, though the base stout is not impressive enough to stand up to the task.

PALATE: Medium body and higher levels of carbonation. Semi-creamy, but a bit airy on the palate, goes down okay and finishes a touch dry. A bit of tartness lingers.

OVERALL: This one is okay. Interesting enough flavor, though I wish the base beer was more robust, which would have made this a more complex and satisfying stout beer. It doesn't say what type of barrel was used, but the flavor reminds me of white wine, or at least a stronger French oak. A little too foamy as well, but otherwise, this was alright. Thanks again Bobby!

This is the 2009 edition and with thanks to MrKennedy and the dark stormy night calls for it tonight,with a crack of the lid this baby is well carbonated and the two finger head is bubbly and leaves some nice lacing,the smell is oak,butterscotch,booze and berries,the mouthfeel is susprisingly well carbonated and medium bodied with tastes of oak firstly followed by butterscotch,chocolate,berries,sweet malts and finished with an oaky dryness and overall it's not bad and could age a few more years but the oak ageing is dominant and would like to see this aged in bourbon barrels or something similar cheers.

Bottle 0066

A - a good three finger tan head over a black body. Lacing is spotty / clumpy and good looking.

S - choc, vanilla, roasts

T - delightful and complex. Dark choc to the fore, but the vanilla of the barrel come is to the mix. Hints of liquorice and soy. Add a jammy plummy Shiraz character, and dried fruits, raisins.

M - not too heavy all in all, and is it really an RIS?... Hmm. Not sure with a lighter body than one might expect.

O - a wonderful and much appreciated beer from the most generous MrKennedy...
And .... if I might be so bold as to add... At the price it doesn't add up, there is simply too much competition, yes it's good, but not great, and it needs to be as I could pick up a bomber of a US RIS for the price of this. Hence I have taken 1 point off overall.

 

2011 vintage bottle #1626. This vintage is also 8% ABV, like the 2010. Purchased from Beer Cartel by @epiclurk. Shared with @tobeerornottobe.

Pours a deep, but surprisingly supple black-brown, with a real clarity at the edges. Head is a firm slush of pale mocha and leaves some patchy, streaky lacing. Carbonation is fine when agitated, but otherwise the beer looks pretty static. Not bad at all.

Nose is oddly grassy and vegetative, with a character like old, dried-out hops that have lost their aromatics. A hint of booze and bananaskins comes through as well. It is slightly better as it warms, giving a malty choc and mild roast aroma, but it's swamped by those other grassy green notes. It's odd, and a little unpleasant.

I was going to say that nose is anomalous when I first took a sip, but there's a definite banana ester and green woody/grassy character on the mid-palate here as well. The front dupes you into thinking all is well, with a solid, clean bite of roastiness, but that estery character really throws a spanner in the works. Back is tannic, with a vinous bite that clings to the finish, leaving a puckering dry cabernet character. Hrmm...

What's wrong with this picture? Maybe it's that this misses the mark in most of the requisite departments for an Imperial Stout. It's still a flavoursome experience, but I feel as though this has a bunch of unintended or misguided characters in it that really detract from the beer as a whole.

 

Got this in a trade with MrKennedy. Open the bottle from 2008 and poured into a glass, the color was dark black and had a damn good head on it for being 3 years old. The smell is a little pungent from the Oak Aging. But there is a slight aroma of burnt toast and roasted malts in there too. The taste is tart at first then it mellows into a light creamy chocolate aftertaste. The oak flavors are very fresh still considering the age of the beer. The mouthfeel I thought should have been a little thicker. It was a bit thin for an Imperial Stout I thought. Either way it was nice to have and glad I was able to review it.

With great thanks to mulder1010 for sourcing from MONA

Pours black (brown around the edges) with really nice head and lacing.

Smell is lots of fruit. Really reminds me of the hop profile of Coopers Best Extra Stout, but I think it comes from oak rather than hops. Then the pressed flowers of the oak and a chocolate coffee milkiness. Definite floral character. Then get a bit of the vanilla and coconut qualities we all crave in a good BA-ed beer. Also some caramel.

Taste is more fruitiness, oaky flowers, coffee and a subtle chocolate. Very oaky but pretty balanced on the tastebuds.

Body is let’s say medium with low-medium carb. Alcohol provides a subtle and not unpleasant bite here.

Some barrel treatments seem to integrate perfectly with the base beer, giving it an extra chocolatey dry whisky character. This gave the beer a unique and enjoyable fruitiness instead. Can definitely see why this is $25 though, must have spent a while in those barrels.

Great beer and kudos to Moo Brew for doing this style and going all out with the oak-bomb qualities. Would love, absolutely love to see Wild Thing get a similar treatment, could be truly spectacular.

Dark brown but somewhat translucent. Creamy tan head. Fair head retention.

Big oak aroma. In fact, it is all new oak with tropical fruit, caramel and coconut. Not much else.

Lots of fruit and banana on the palate with a touch of caramel and chocolate. Best described as sucking on a block of oak because that is all it tastes of.

Medium body with moderately-low carbonation. Okay.

A decent beer in the sense that there is probably something I want to drink underneath it all but it's not amazing and completely dominated by oak.

2011 Vintage on Tap at Moorilla Estate (wine bar@Mona)
8% ABV and spent 4 months on American Oak Barrels

A-- Black, pitch black. No light penetrating this puppy. One finger light brown head. Slowly fades to film but the film does stick around for a while. Very little carbonation shown with this and good spotty lacing and a oily dark residue left with this when finished.

S-- Oak, vanilla, toasted coconut, chocolate and more Oak. Oak bomb is probably the best words to use for this as this is very in your face. Fresh oak but not green, ripe oak. Big, bold, assertive smell.

T-- Oak is still very dominant. Still get vanilla and coconut but can make out more Belgian and dark chocolate and just bits of char and ash.

M-- Freshness of the barrel does come out in the feel. Low carbonation and medium heavy feel. Slick and oily with a dry oaked chocolate finish.

O-- The kicker for this is the $25 a bottle price point for a 330 ML bottle. On tap was a bargain for $19. The good points. The barrel version is much better than the regular version. The barrel does wonders and adds a lot of complexity to the base beer. Similar to Great Divide Oak Aged Yet but harsher and, well, a lot more Oak. Needs more sweetness to smooth out the barrel ageing. The base beer would work well in Port, rum or whisky barrels quite well as the body suits it and does improve. Maybe cut it down to 3 months as opposed to 4 months. Easy to drink and well hidden ABV. Was able to drink the regular version and two of the BA version. Age it for a year or two and should be a very good beer and a treat.

2010 vintage, released in 2011 and purchased from the brewery itself. Poured into a Victory Golden Monkey tulip. Bottle #487 of 2500.

Pours a nice consistent black with no light getting through. Beautiful darkish tan head of foam that sat at an inch and stayed above film and left some spotty lacing behind.

Smells of oak and chocolate with some roasted malt and a touch of coffee. Less oaky than previous editions that i've tried where it smelt like you were about to imbibe an oak tree.

Taste is big on chocolate and it is a mix of milk chocolate, dark chocolate and belgian chocolate, nice and well put together. Some of the oak also transfers through here as well.

Plenty of carbonation with the foam, yet it doesn't seem to detract too much from the beer itself when it comes to mouthfeel, good soft feel and the body suits the 8.0% ABV well. Don't expect the body of a big 10+% ABV beer and you won't be disappointed.

Overall, a very nice stout and it needs to be when it is $25 for 330ml. Thankfully this is and is one of the better versions of this annual release that i've opened up.