Black Magick - George Dickel Tennessee Whiskey Barrels
Voodoo Brewing Co.

bottled 8/31/22

 

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells quite charred and roasty, with dark chocolate, smoke, leather, and some light vanilla.

This is much more barrel driven than some of these are – and they are all super barrel driven to begin with. It’s quite bitter, and quite charred, with tons of very spicy oak, some smokiness and ashiness, leather, and dark chocolate. The barrel does seemingly overpower the base stout. This isn’t always a bad thing, but Black Magicks are a bit more balanced, typically.

This is a little bit thin, but decently creamy, with a slightly booziness on the end.

I still enjoyed this but there’s been multiple other iterations of this beer that have been more successful.

 

Tar black with a dark tan head that's moderately short, though it retains well for a minute before audibly fizzling out to a curled collar.

The nose is dark chocolate chips immediately upon popping the cap. It becomes woodier as I get in closer, like last night's campfire bones with a touch of s'mores leftover: damp oak, graham and hints of vanilla.

Taste exudes plenty of dark roast and barrel, but after the swallow the complexity develops deeper and longer than I've experienced in any Black Magick. Subtle chars become Madagascar vanilla bean caviar and bourbon creme brulee for what seems like an eternity in the exhale. As it warms, it also seems to become a little more nutty, a bit like Spanish peanuts.

The medium body is just shy of viscous, with a drinkably tingly carbonation that comes to a semi-dry, warm finish.

I think I'll nurse this in an attempt to linger within that exhale all night.

poured from a blue-waxed 12oz bottle into a perennial snifter. pours a thick used motor oil black with a thin dark brown foam that fizzes away into an even thinner dark brown collar around the rim of the glass with a few splotches of brown foam in the middle of the black liquid. perfect mix of whiskey barrel, oak, cocoa, tobacco and faint vanilla. taste follows with a tobacco and whiskey sting on the finish. thick, full mouthfeel which is typically the case with this series. not sludge but plenty thick. i quite enjoyed this one.

The most polarizing barrel aged beer ever. Every time - what will you get? Its funny, blantons aged is maybe the the second worst I've had of the series and jameson or rebel yell are arguarbly the best. Dickel Tennessee whickey? Nobody chases that. If history repeats itself this'll be a killer magick that nobody wants until everybody wants.

Or it'll suck. Here we go: I definitely overchilled this. It got warm in the ride home from meadville so stuck it in the freezer and clearly too long.

Look is sludge. Inky jello. Only beer I can compare it to is frig which was a monster. But in honesty this viscosity is likely just rhe temperature. Color is beaut. Standard motor oil black/brown but the swirl leaves a super golden/copper lacing. Little to no head.

Smell - wtf. Here we go again. Sea water. See my last review on fonders ultimate oktoberfest noting this aroma. This has to be my well water I've rinsed the glass with. There are no two other commonalities. Tons of toffee and standard magick underneath this smell though whereas the last beer I could smell nothing else.

Taste/feel - everything you expect from a magick. Initial impression is middle of the road. Drinks thicker and hoppier than most. Much thicker.

Overall - i feel like recents magicks have trended downhill. Its truly been a while since there's been an absolute banger. Old forester orange wax last December was incredible, prior to thsy elijah craig was among the best, and then we travel back to purple wax jameson, rebel yell condom wax and orange wax B1 before we step into the the truly coveted varieties. The plethora of magicks between those have been everywhere from "good" to "meh" (French oak, wild turkey, blantons). I wish they could dial in the variable that differenties these, it seriously can't be the barrel. Can it?

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Drinking again at cellar temperature on 3-25-23

Added notes - its waxy on the tongue, definitely more hops than most magick (but not hoppy). Bitter, chalky, oily. A faint fruitiness in the most obscure manner... as I dwell on the flavor the best descriptor comes to mind - craisens. But craisens are sour... is this what I'm tasting.

Tread on this one with caution I suppose.