Dark Secret - Stranahan's Barrel
BrickStone Restaurant & Brewery

500 ml bottle into a snifter. Had 3/23/20.

Pours near black and opaque, thick and oily looking, with a quick sizzle of a head and specks of lacing. Aromas of whiskey, roasted malt, chocolate, molasses, oak, char, raisins, vanilla, some caramel, some tobacco and leather. Mostly similar flavors- whiskey, roasted malt, chocolate, caramel, oak, char, molasses, vanilla, some raisins, some tobacco. It’s a little sweet, or at least sweeter than you would expect. Smooth, a good full body but thinner for the style, appropriately carbonated on the low side.

Whoa. Figured this would be good, but wow. The barrels are crazy good, lots of chocolate, lots of lots of stuff. The feel is compromised by the thinner body and low carbonation, but that’s a minor point compared to all the good things. This is a pretty terrific beer.

Appearance: motor oil black with with brown cap. Stains the glass looks really sticky.

Smell: Great smelling whiskey and chocolate.

Taste: Sweet and dry whiskey with lots of chocolate stout flavors.

Mouthfeel: full body with low carbonation. Not boozy. Thick and creamy.

Overall: Home run! Best barrel aged dark secret that I have drank. Its straight fire. Very unique whiskey notes from the Stranahan barrel like nothing I have tasted before. Way better than I expected this to be, I know BA Dark secret is always above average, but this one overly impressed me and exceeded my expectations.

 

Pour viscous black, syrupy even. No head, but dark brown foam on the glass here and there. The whiskey barrel took amazingly to this stout. Right off the nose, you get wafts of whiskey, wood, brown sugar, char, molasses, leather, raisin chicory, and musky cocoa. Taste hits you with charred wood, molasses, and whiskey pretty strongly, then raisin, dried fig, and molasses, finished with more whiskey and chocolate malt, but gets a little bright as it warms up. Feel resonates with the cheeks, and is indeed syrupy and but not too thick. Velvet smooth. Save for an occasion that fits the whiskey sipping profile, age would only help I would imagine, but it is pretty good now too.