Blood Turning Black - Jim Beam Bourbon Barrel-Aged
Spring House Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

 

Bottle.

Ok, so I was a little skeptical about the SH Reserve Society after so many duds in the first round. But one sip of this puppy, and I knew this was a whole new ballgame. Dark jet black pour, unctuous flow, small ringlet around the perimeter. Big aroma of dark sugars and smooth booze, obvious coconut. Lots of coconut in the taste, Mounds bar with chocolaty roast, not a whole lot of coffee, but coconut for days, with a stiff bourbon barrel woodiness. Body is heavy for a porter, to the point where you might as well consider it stout-like, silky smooth for the higher ABV. This is right up there with Coconut ANTEAD in greatness, and if it's any indication of the other SKULL bottles, I intend on sharing them with no one but the wife!

 

 

750ml corked and caged bottle poured into a snifter appears black in color with a fizzy head thats gone in no time.

Aroma is toasty coconut and chocolate. Some roasty earthiness blends to sweet caramel and vanilla creating an overall enjoyable scent.

This tastes bourbon forward with earthy bitterness that gets minorly medicinal and coconut displays an oily and lasting cling to the tongue. The coffee/roasty charred grain bitterness is robust with a nutty aftertaste tasting slightly of stale coffee.

This is medium in body with modest carbonation. Overall, this beer is very well done by Springhouse standards. Im pleased that they are swinging hard right out of the gate of round 2 of their beer club. But in comparison to other barrel aged beers this is middle of the road.

 

Poured into a Teku glass. As the beer fills my glass and settles it is very dark, almost black, with no visibility and a compact beige head. I smell sweet bourbon mash, lots of coconut, and chocolate with a slight hint of roast on the finish. This beer smells like a Mounds bar dipped in bourbon. Now I don't eat much candy, and Mounds were never high on my list but I am excited to taste this beer from the scent alone. As I take a sip I pick up the Jim Beam whiskey from the start, then comes the coconut flavors I smelled. As the sip rounds out there is roasted coffee (more prevalent in the flavor than the scent) & chocolate with a slight bourbon twang on the finish. I really enjoy that I can taste the bourbon up front and at the finish while the other flavors meld and take shape through the taste and are not overpowered by it. The feel is oil slick with a tingle of carbonation on the tongue. I really enjoyed this first offering from the Spring House Barrel Reserve Society. A very well balanced and complex porter. I wanted to drink this fresh due to the coffee and coconut flavors. Now that I've had it and realized how strong the bourbon and chocolate flavors are I'm really looking forward to putting some age on a bottle and drinking it.

 

 

 

 

750 ml corked and caged bottle. Pours inky, deep black with a sizable brown head that ended up fizzing away at a steady pace. Good lacing. Aromas of coffee and bourbon with a touch of coconut. On the palate, the bourbon and coconut are the first flavors I pick up, followed by a wash of fresh coffee. The body could stand to be a bit thicker, but that is a minor nitpick for the overall quality of this beer.