Black Magick - Elijah Craig
Voodoo Brewing Co.

 

Bottled on 8/25/2021; consumed on 4/6/2024

Pours a viscous, motor-oil black body capped with a tentative finger of creamy, pale mocha foam, dissipating quickly to a near-blank surface, persistent, frothy collar, and virtually no lacing holding to the walls of the glass.

Aromas of dark cacao and balancing char phase through fervent barrel presence before softening to toasted malt and milk chocolate subtleties.

Taste opens to dark chocolate and barrel char contrasts upfront, with toasted malt meeting tinges of silky vanilla over the mid-palate as milk chocolate interludes coat the back end alongside dark fruit esters, leaving a cocoa cake batter lingering to finish.

Mouthfeel brings a medium-full body and a modestly perceptible fluff of carbonation; subliminal char grazes the palate throughout, leaving a slick gloss texturing as a creamy balance settles through a deftly sticky finish.

Char-forward and sporting intermittent sweetness, proving a blunter array of your typically omnipresent barrel elements subtly detailing the Black Magick series; depth just shy of exceptional, though the standard remains high.

 

This is a revisit that I apparently never rated. Without going in to depth this is the best magick there has been since maybe orange b1, maybe silver, or maybe all time.

 

poured from a 12oz bottle into a perennial snifter. pours a shiny, oily black with a thin dark brown foam cap. cap fades away to a surrounding thin collar. bourbon-soaked chocolate on the nose and taste. as it warms up there’s a bit of charred oak to it but it’s so damn chocolate forward and boozy but in the best ways. full mouthfeel; even chewier as it warms up. layers and layers of depth to this one. a little more chocolate on the base stout than some other BMs. plenty of barrel, like all BMs. these barrels did the base beer justice. great no-adjunct barrel-aged imperial stout.

 

Pours jet black, very thin head that faded right away. Big bourbon barrel aroma on this one, lots of chocolate too and some subtle spice too. The taste is much like the nose, good amount of bourbon, good amount of chocolate and roast along with a spicy barrel finish. The feel is smooth yet full bodied, definitely a sipping beer that should be enjoyed over a good period of time. Overall another very solid Voodoo barrel aged stout.

Used motor oil black with a short but dense creamy brown head settling to a flat collar then thin chain, leaving some clear legs on the glass with a swirl.

Again with the mocha and vanilla bean ice cream, it's surprisingly similar to the Rebel Yell treatment we had the night before, immediately making this the superior of the recent Black Magicks--I'm looking at you Blanton's.

As it warms, the faintest hint of earthy, peated Scotch surfaces, which I normally wouldn't like, but its fleeting subtlety adds complexity without detracting from intense dark chocolate qualities that crop up in the aftertaste.

Just shy of viscous, the full body is gently lifted by a lightly bubbly yet firm carbonation, which brings some cocoa dusted dates. Coming back to the comparison with Rebel Yell Black Magick, this is a little boozier and more mature, finishing quite dry and less sticky. While there are many decadent qualities, including a touch of candied peanut, it's got an overall semi-bitter, oaky constitution.

I'd only recently found that Rebel Yell was my favorite Black Magick, to only supplant that a day later with this excellent Elijah Craig treatment.