Black Magick - Chocolate Rye Whiskey Barrels
Voodoo Brewing Co.

 

 

Thanks to whomever sent this to me, I should never forget such a generous soul. 12 oz. bottle topped with appropriately thin reddish wax.

Black! Rocket-fueled malts sneer at the nose, tempered only by a gentle chocolate & touch of booze from the barrel.

Black Magick Aged in Chocolate Rye Whiskey Barrels is surprisingly restrained. Lovely, sweet malts with a jarring contrast of rough roast up front before the barrels kick back with a spicy, rye “notice me” nod. A slow, knowing, restrained nod (there’s that word again). Chewy. I’d like to freeze this & make popsicles. Easy drinking for a big beer, aided by the lack of booziness.

Let’s state the obvious: Voodoo has been making world-class stouts for years. This doesn’t reach that top shelf, it’s just a very good barrel aged stout. Just.

poured from a 12oz bottle into a perennial snifter. pours a thick oily black with a thin mocha brown foam that fizzes aaah into a thin collar around the glass. the usual BM aromas of bitter chocolate, earthy tobacco, barrel char, whiskey-soaked oak and subtle dark fruit are joined by chocolate wafer here. i’ll be honest, i was skeptical a “chocolate rye whiskey barrel” would actually have chocolate aromas and flavors to add but i am dead wrong. instead of the typical spice from the rye barrels it’s more of chocolate wafer with chocolate filling smell and taste and it’s excellent. full mouthfeel with a sticky coating presence. just enough carb to make it lively and not oppressive or drink. this is tasty. i’m a big chocolate fan and while typically BMs have more tobacco and charr to them than chocolate, this one, with help from the barrels, has an exquisite chocolate component that i just couldn’t get enough of.

 

 

2022 12 oz bottle. First Black Magick. The Warlock Flip Flops b1 and Continuum were good, but this is better at the base brew level. Super dark color. Nose is subdued, but in fairness it’s a non-adjuncted stout so there’s not loads of room for olfactory intensity. The flavor is bold and complex. A bit of a hoppy bite up front, or perhaps more appropriately the rye is up front. It starts razor sharp but quickly dries up from the barrel, moving into a dark ominous flavor. The barrel comes back to dry it more, and then pulls in some dark chocolate rye notes. It’s a tempest of a drink. The ABV does not hide; a few sips in and your face is smashed, figuratively. At $25 a bottle, it’s steep, worth it, though a 500 ml would make me feel better about the spend. This is all terrible, because now I will probably try to spend more money on Voodoo Black Magick beers.

 

A surprise tapping at The Compound's first BA Day of the year, I'm excitedly pleased to say that this is actually my first time ever having a draft pour of the current bottled release, as I never dared risk making the run to Voodoo during the era of first-come first-serve drops.

Appearance is 8 ball black with a short espresso crema head dispersing to a bubbly ring.

This one is actually surprisingly dry up front, but the finish is certainly hot cocoa and Tootsie Roll, which I don't necessarily expect from chocolate rye whiskey, but is quite satisfying to associate here.

The crazy chewy yet medium body's fairly crisp carbonation leads into a fairly hot and spicy swallow that's actually quite peppery and paper dry. It just up and vanishes, begging for a another swig with a bigger swirl around the palate, which is totally unexpected, both for a Woodford treatment more broadly, and also particularly one featuring "chocolate" malt, but I suppose it's the rye qualifier within that element that's really influencing this effect.

This is a uniquely complex and delicious Black Magick.

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Having this again a little over two weeks later out of the bottle, it really does seem like there's chocolate added. It's like freshly roasted cacao with a touch of dark chocolate laced nougat, really adding a softening, sweetening blanket to the smoky roast and oaky casking of standard Black Magick oil.

Here's to being the first on untapped and BA. Picked up today in Meadville.

Look is maybe one of the best ive seen from voodoo altogether. And that's saying a lot because their stouts generally fuck. Absolutely viscous oil. Almost no head develops but what does is straighr frothing (love this). This beer screams that its going to be THICK, chewy and LOW carbonation.

Smell is classic black magick. Theres an element to aroma that I can't quite put my finger on. Not the most effervescent magick I've ever smelled but really all magicks smell better than almost all other beers. A 4.5 is pretty modest and I could/maybe should go 4.75.

Taste is one of the better magicks lately. It hits you with a chocolatey sweetness most dont have. Sadly the finish is lacking. Its bizarre, really. This beer explodes your senses and quickly washes away. Im finding myself taking small sip after small sip to try and find the flavor descriptors that I want to use. Honestly I likely just over chilled this. It pains me to do it because I want to keep sipping it but ill set this aside for a half hour and pick back up.

Feel is average magick/so great feel but voodoo has had better.

Overall 4.5. Magicks vary so hard. Some are the best beers I've ever had (silver, both orange, EC, condom, purple). Some are comically meh (blantons). Some are straight bad an not worth their $25 retail (wild turkey, French fucking oak).

This one is a great, great beer. Definitely not the best magick but absolutely worth a 3hr trip and $50 for two.