Dark Apparition - Double Barrel-Aged
Jackie O's Brewpub

 

12.7oz 2022 vintage bottle poured into a Duvel glass at just above fridge temp 14.5% ABV per label. The beer pours midnight black with no light penetration and a meager medium brown colored head. The head recedes to a pencil thin ring and some micro dots of lacing. The aroma is mild with roasted malt accented by bourbon and port barrel. The taste is semisweet chocolate with layers of fruit, oak, port wine, and bourbon. Really delicious. Mild bitterness. The mouthfeel is medium bodied with just less that average carbonation and a semi dry finish. No ethanol to the nose or taste buds. No way I'd guess the ABV at 14.5. Overall, excellent to world class. Another wonderfully crafted barrel aged stout from Jackie O's.

Served at 55 degrees. Appearance is standard for the style. Darkest of browns bordering black with a small amount of short-lived beige colored head that receded quickly to a thin ring. The aroma comes out of the glass in waves of caramel and molasses with some lingering barrel notes in the background. Very sweet smelling, but that's ok...this beer smells amazing.

For the taste, let's just say this is wonderful. This isn't a surprise based on the nose, but it leads with rich molasses, but evolves over time to bring forth some faint chocolate and barrel. While I wouldn't likely have picked up on this unprompted, the port casks are there if you look for them in the aftertaste. Maybe slightly less roast than I would have liked, but that is a tiny nit. This is a very tasty beery that absolutely belies it's 13% ABV. The feel is almost a tad then when it first hits the tongue, but then has more substance once fully consumed.

Overall, this is an excellent beer.

Another excellent stout by Jackie O's. It's everything you'd expect in a stout, but with the double barrel aging process I somehow wanted "more". This certainly isn't one to pass on, but also not one to run out and grab, especially at its price point.

 

Poured black and had a brief attempt at a light brown head that dissipated almost immediately. Looking at the ABV and double barrel aging, well, I guess that’s what happens.
The aroma was amazing, smooth roasted malts, cold brew coffee and chocolate and toffee all rolled into the nose.
The taste followed, not a touch of bitterness anywhere and though chocolate and toffee were present, it wasn’t sweet at all. Hit almost all my happy buttons.
The feel was excellent, nicely viscous for sipping this really tasty beer.
Got via trade, definitely want to try it again.

 

12.7 ounce bottle, 2022 vintage, 14.5% ABV on label. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about a half inch tan head that didn't stay around for too long. Not much lacing either. I like the aroma, the brew smells like dark fruit, port, roasted malt, vanilla, bourbon, dark chocolate and caramel. Taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some molasses, coffee and burnt/charred malt flavors. I think the port stands out a little more than the bourbon does. Mouthfeel/body is full, it's slick and rich with a moderate amount of carbonation. It's a bit boozy, but not as much as I was expecting it to be. I thought this was a pretty good overall imperial stout, need to buy more of this one!

 

 

 

Double Barrel Dark Apparition from Jackie O’s Brewing. 12.7 oz bottle purchased online from Jackie O’s, $17.11 (Including tax and shipping), $ 1.347/oz. Stored at 40 degrees after purchase. Reviewed 16/04/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated bottle. Served at 51.9 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. Final temperature 58.6 degrees. Sorry, I couldn’t wait any longer!
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Brown (SRM 20), opaque.
Body – Deep Brown (SRM 20), opaque. When rear-lite, weak light penetration at the edges.
Head – Small (Maximum one cm, aggressive center pour), caramel, fizzy and rapidly diminishing to leave a 0.2 cm tan crown and no cap.
Lacing – None. At 14.5% ABV none was expected.
Aroma – 4.25 – Smells sweet with weak roasted malt and strong molasses, some chocolate, and (maybe) cherry. No hops, no yeast. No alcohol. Bourbon in the background.
Flavor – 4.5 – Moderately sweet with toffee and weak bourbon overtones. A bit fruity but less cherry than the nose. No alcohol burn until it hit the stomach, producing a mild warming which slowly builds. No hops, no yeast. Ethanol (14.5 % ABV, as marked on container) is otherwise hidden. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 4.5 – Full, creamy, soft caressing carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 (After deducting 0.25 point for undated bottle) In general, it looks like every other RIS. The aroma is enticing, and the flavor is delectable! The mouthfeel compliments both the flavor and aroma and helps make this a joy to drink!

4/16/19 bottle @ home

 

 

 

 

 

Tasted from bottle and compared against BA Dark App and BA Dark App with Vanilla and Coffee. Like it better than the regular BA and Vanilla and coffee BA. Pours black with light tan head. Aroma is caramel, bourbon, coffee, chocolate and you do get a little fruity port notes. Complex taste. Cherry and berry notes come through with bourbon, caramel, molasses, coffee, and chocolate. Excellent BA stout.

 

 

 

 

 

As the roasted hazelnut hued liquid leaves the bottle, the motor oil rich appearance descends into the Duvel tulip as one black mass. It's dark as sin, with the only light being a coastline of tan foam.

The smell is sweet. Black strap molasses and chocolate smell as if they are coating an oak barrel, like syrup. Spiced coffee, booze, and deep red wine support a dark fruit base.

Such a complexity of flavors overjoy the taste buds. In similar fashion, the syrupy molasses takes lead. A hint of booze and then rich roasted malts, burnt toast and almost smokey chocolate, and sweet black cherries follow before letting the oak and a tad more booze linger on.

The surreal rich stickiness is simply amazing. It's as bold and oily as it should be. It demands you take your time between tastes, though I do not want to. It is indeed sweet, with bitterness clearly coming from it's roasted qualities, and the only perception of dryness coming from oak. Somehow, the mildest prickly carbonation still manages to emerge through its density.

The Devil as my witness, this is the best BA stout I've had in a long time. It is sinisterly good in every facet with the exception of a more impressive head and lacing, but that is just a minor matter of preference. Thank you Corey for this amazing treat! Cheers.

 

 

 

From a 375ml bottle

It is a slightly thicker looking pour than many of the barrel aged beers. Kind of a muddy/brownish black. There is a nice amount of tan foam, but it disappeared rapidly.

It smells phenomenal! Really reminds me quite a bit of Bourbon County Barleywine. Charred barley and some chocolate in the background, but up front it is mainly caramel/toffee, molasses/brown sugar, and a red wine like cherry/dates along with vanilla, bourbon, and wood. Just a hint of a spicy citrus.

The flavors pretty much follow, with a bit more of the port wine flavor coming through. Bourbon is up front, followed by a strong, sweet cherry along with molasses. Chocolate on the back end lingers. There is a noticeable hoppiness for the style with maybe just a hair too much bitterness in the end.

The body is very nice. A heavier medium consistency. It has a borderline cola like feel to it though that I think is more from the hops bite than carbonation.

This is probably one of my top 3 from Jackie O’s and that is saying something

 

 

 

 

 

Huge dark chocolate, vanilla and vague dark fruit on the nose. The taste follows with dark chocolate, vanilla and black cherry with bourbon and pirt accents. Rich, decadent and world class.

 

 

 

Not sure i dig this one better than regular BA version. Its good but it adds a wierd sweetness and subtle fruitiness that is awkward to my palate.