Black Magick - Double Oak Bourbon Barrels (Old Forrester 1910)
Voodoo Brewing Co.

Bottled on 12/15/2021; consumed on 9/26/2024

Pours a viscous, midnight-black body capped with a finger and a half of mocha-hued foam; solid head retention leaves a half-finger of cap, expansive, frothy collar, and the occasional chunky web of lacing spattered around the walls of the glass.

Aroma wafts fresh cacao nibs against malt char, peaking with well-oaked bourbon against toasty caramel and leather progressions.

Taste offers silky dark chocolate balanced with ample barrel roast upfront as char prickles engage notes of leather and tobacco past the mid-palate into distant edges of dark fruit on the back end of the profile.

Mouthfeel brings a medium-full body and minimal carbonation, leaving creamy-slick texturing against an easygoing char as a subliminal warmth takes hold through a slightly roasty finish.

The profile carries a weighty barrel exceptionally, a distinctly Voodoo standard maintained with an effective dispersion of char-effused sweetness; another winner in a stalwart barrel-aged series.

 

 

 

poured from a 12oz bottle into a snifter. pours a thick jet black with the faintest mocha brown foam that recedes to a collar around the glass. a few mocha swirls here and there. heavy oak, bourbon and tobacco on the nose along with some light vanilla and chocolate. rich leather, cigar, charred oak and chocolate on the taste with a soothing bourbon sting on the finish. full mouthfeel with a slick, creamy finish. not the thickest barrel-aged imperial stout you’ll ever try but certainly far from the thinnest. maybe not quite as chocolate-forward as i would prefer in a barrel-aged imperial stout but i’m really digging the earthy, oak presence as well as the leather and tobacco notes.

Stark black with a short and level dark mocha head that fizzles out moderately fast to a fluid center and fine chain.

Smell is Voodoo's classically nutty roast, but with a distinct marshmallow character I don't often get in Black Magick.

Taste is a little thinner, smokier, hotter and much more savory than I remember out of the Woodford Double Oak bottle. That smokiness lingers and also comes out on the exhale. Further, it's more like a less attractive cigarette than it is a cigar. As it warms, though, the savory smokiness pairs more fittingly with the nuttiness, enveloping the palate in a sort of chocolate peanut butter crepe, except that the chocolate has a sort of whole roasted bitter cacao character. The one parallel between the original orange wax and this new one is the milkiness, but there's a distinctly fresh whiskey bite that cuts through that, which is a little caramel corny.

Actually, this is a whole lot thinner than I usually experience with BMs, and surprisingly crisp, coming to a dry and stingingly warm finish, where a little rubber band aroma comes off from my lip...?

I don't know why all the traders are comparing this to the Woodford version, as the two whiskies whose barrels were used couldn't be any more different from each other. I wouldn't expect stout aged in Woodford barrels to be notably comparable to stout aged in Old Forester barrels, double oaked or otherwise. At all. And upon further inspection of my past review relative to this one, my assumption holds true in actual practice. What's maybe even more grating to me is how so many of these same people are up and trading their full allotments as soon as they're able, before even trying it. And for silly pastry beers, no less. People are out of their minds.

Here's to all those who dove right in. This is to be drunk, and drunk now. Not later.

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Having my last bottle in January 2025, the above review is identical to my experience now. Overly smoky compared to their usual fare, and next to a dram of a real OF barrel pick, the whiskey barrel really doesn't seem to express much in this treatment. Probably the biggest BM letdown in the BRC.

Oof. The only black magick that comes close to this since doubled oaked may be jameson. This blows away blantons, ec, french oak, white, condom. Im barely into this and its still quite cold but going back to the last orange wax I want to rank them as orange b1 > orange b2 > purple wax > then probably EC but that and all the others since aren't on the level of the first three i ranked.

This one is very sweet like orange b1. Unbelievably dense, thick and oily. Strangely devoid of much aroma. It almost taste like there's lactose in this one. A lot of residual almost "bourbon cream liqeuor" flavors. Lots of vanilla. Tons of toffee. In fact that might be the most predominate taste im getting.

Feel is just nuts. Im really tempted to rate it 5 not 4.75. A small sip swirled in the mouth and pressed to the roof of your mouth feels like sludge.

Overall fuck yeah. Incredible variance in these beers. This is a top 25 beer for me id say and some black magicks are borderline drain pours.

Always a gamble on whether taking the trade for these or not. Many you'll get much more than their value for but this guy fucks.

Revisit on 7-17-22. Nothing really to add other than I agree with my previous review. Tona of toffee in this guy. Maybe one of the sweeter magicks and edging towards too sweet for my bitter love. Picked up a LOT of barrel this time. Not hot at all but VERY oaky and bourbon laced.