Blanka
Voodoo Brewing Co.

 

 

 

 

 

poured from a 12oz bottle into a perennial snifter. pours a lighter black with a thin mocha brown foam cap that fizzles into a thin collar around the rim of the glass. nice barrel presence as always with the voodoo barrel-aged beers. whiskey sting, oak, vanilla and chocolate from the base beer. taste follows with a nice chocolate and bourbon flavor. very rich, very filling. no shortage of barrel, and i expected this to be a little more dark fruit forward but it really wasn’t. thick, full mouthfeel with a drier finish. in fact, everything about this to me was drier than the black magicks i’ve tried. not quite as oily, a touch chalkier on the nose and taste and finishes in the drier side. another very good voodoo barrel-aged imperial stout. tons of barrel that melds herb a thick, rich base beer.

 

 

 

The stark black pour builds a lumpy dark tan foam head of moderate height dispersing to a curled collar.

A very oaky, woodsy yet chocolatey nose fades into tons of vanillin on the back end.

Taste is even more chocolatey, and in pairing with this vanillin, emulates Boston cream pie with a lightly spicy char.

Feel starts off a little prickly before being rounded out by the silky smooth body that comes to a semi-dry finish exhaling Spanish peanut and a little more heat than these BRC bottles usually exude. EHT! Although forgivingly numbing, this becomes a substantial sort of ethanol flavor on that same exhale as it warms, but without the painful burn.

---

Damn, I can't believe it's been almost 3 years, but this stunner has aged very nicely. It's almost crisply drinkable due to its solid barrel presence, despite a mild viscosity. It's really one of the better balanced malt and oak profiles in their dark beers, with every element working very well together at this point. I'd probably have given this damn near a 5/5 if it was like this fresh off the line. Obviously, it was still outstanding, but it's only more so now.

I dont necessarily love how this looks. The liquid itself is oily and inky as can be. The head is larger bubbles and less frothy than I tend to find on big stouts I love. The lacing is quick and develops almost no legs. A uniform sheet runs down the glass with almost no legs. Strange.

Smell is the fucking zangief I love. Absolutely no questioning it. God I've missed this smell. Butterscotch, caramel, toffee, toasted marshmallow, all shine a bit brighter than previous iterations. I'm fearing this may be sweeter than the last two show stoppers elijah Craig and rye. I prefer roastier stouts so fingers crossed this isn't fuckered with and bourbon countied up.

Taste/feel. Its not very sweet at all. Goddamn. Its actually maybe even chalkier and dryer than the aforementioned two. Its HEAVY, HEAVY on the barrel and ethanol. A big, big sipper. Feel is not the prickly carbonated mess that I feared. I wouldnt quite call it chewy. I would call it fairly dry. Its absolutely hot as fuck.

Overall. I love it. I think rye zangief is up with the best of the magicks, EC is close and above the mediocre magicks. This is up there. I'll take it over a blantons magick, a wild turkey magick or a god awful French oak magick any day. Im not sure where it edges on my preference on midrange magicks like purple and condom.