Aphotic - Old Rip Van Winkle Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Voodoo Brewing Co.

Poured from a black-waxed 12oz bottle into a Perennial snifter. Pours a thick jet black with minimal dark brown foam head. Lots of chocolate notes on the nose. Bourbon and oak in the background. Some leather and dark fruits as it warms to room temp. Bourbon sting also intensifies. Taste is dark chocolate and bourbon up front. It’s not sweet though. It’s actually quite smooth. Some oak to the finish. Thick mouthfeel. Really good barrel-aged imperial stout. No gimmicks here. Just base beer and barrel-aging. Dig it.

Midnight black body, brown collar. Smells of bourbon backed dark chocolate, dried date, molasses, rugged barrel with charred oak, earth, and a hint of rye. Taste is much simpler: rugged bourbon barrel, bitter dark chocolate, big char, earth, and slight smoke. Old school roasty and bittering with a heavy and dry body, chewy, but surprisingly short lived in the sip before the booze ending

 

It never ceases to amaze me just how BLACK they get this, both in appearance, and malt expression. On draft, this is capped by the thinnest brown head that quickly recedes to a skinny halo.

I'm not sure I've ever had another stout as acidic as this, in terms of dark malts, without it being straight up sour. That said, the intensity seems toned down here compared to other aphotics. Unsweetened whole dark chocolate meets a uniquely fluid, light whiskey expression without the heat, kind of reminding me of Weller SR. I get that sort of weak wheat, but in a tasty, lightly toasty way. The exhale has some glassy toffee with mixed nuts and perhaps a hint of luxardo.

This is one of the best BRC in a minute.

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Returning a few months shy of a year later, it's just as delicious, but the acid is now translating as chocolate covered raspberry in a very subtly delectable way.