Black Sails Serenade
The Bruery

Initial Impression:
I normally avoid drinking stouts this big while they’re still relatively fresh, but I had this at The Bruery and it completely won me over. It was phenomenal on draft, so I brought a bottle home for my wife and me to enjoy together.
Appearance:
Served at 56°F in a tulip glass. The pour created an airy, frothy tan head about a finger thick with below-average retention, dissipating somewhat quickly and leaving little to no lacing behind. The beer itself pours jet-black and fully opaque (SRM ~36), with a dense, inky appearance befitting a high-ABV imperial stout.
Aroma:
Barrel-forward with a rich roasted malt backbone. Layers of molasses, toffee, caramel, toasted bread crust, dark baker’s chocolate, French roast coffee, raisin, date, leather, tobacco, earthiness, and aged cherry immediately stand out.
As the beer warms, the rum barrel becomes more expressive—caramelized sugar reminiscent of bananas foster, dark bourbon, charred oak, resin, vanilla, and a touch of warming “fire.” Supporting notes of light smoke, biscuit, pine, and faint citrus help keep the sweetness from becoming too dense.
Flavor:
Deeply layered and impressively balanced for the intensity. The bourbon barrel character is front and center, bringing oak, char, resin, caramelized sugar, orange zest, and rich rum warmth without overwhelming the base beer.
The malt profile follows with toasted bread crust, molasses, toffee, nuttiness, toasted grain, biscuit, anise, dark chocolate, and medium-roast coffee. Additional complexity unfolds with tobacco, leather, raisin, date, aged cherry, cola, vanilla, floral hints, grass, light smoke, burnt sugar, and even a subtle saline note that enhances the barrel character.
Despite the massive flavor profile, the beer remains cohesive and surprisingly refined.
Mouthfeel:
Heavy-bodied with moderate-low carbonation. Creamy, chewy, and coated with a gentle warming finish that never becomes harsh.
Overall Impression:
Black Sails Serenade is a fantastic example of how effective bourbon barrel aging can be when handled correctly. Too often, bourbon barrels either disappear completely or come across as too much and overly sweet. Here, the bourbon character is distinct, expressive, and fully integrated into the stout, adding real depth and complexity rather than simply extra sweetness.
This is the kind of beer you slowly sip after a long day and genuinely appreciate as it opens up in the glass. Rich, layered, and memorable—exactly what I want from a barrel-aged imperial stout.

weird and awesome beer, the best of what these guys are all about, black sesame, an ingredient i have long been curious about in beer, features prominently, not the first beer ive had with it, but one of the more robust, for sure. its also got black cherry, black lava salt, molasses, and vanilla in it, whoa! amazing how prominent and appreciable all of these elements are in it, love that, what i hoped for, and its cohesive for kind of sounding like a random assemblage of stuff. black and viscous, no surprise at this strength, sets up like a big stout from the bruery, we have been here before! aroma and flavor are way cool, some tartness from the cherries, i cant believe how much of that fruit character comes through in this, aided by both salt and roast, i think both those elements really bring it forward and flatter it, cherry cordial-like with all the booze in here, somewhat sweet too, exotic and interesting, always neat when this much fruit comes through a beer this big, it sets the tone for the rest of the elements, including the barrel, which is probably the next most obvious aspect of this, high quality bourbon, lots of barrel char and vanilla oak character, extra vanilla is tastefully dosed so it highlights the whiskey without running over it, elegant even with the overall size of this. some spiciness there, dark chocolate bitterness and then the molasses and malty center, the black sesame plays somewhere in between those layers. ive had a lot of black sesame seeds this year, more than ever, and i recognize them in this, deeply earthy, somehow darker than the roast but then also with a spice and umami depth that fits right before the sweetness hits, and then emerges again just after it, an oil or something from them keeps that well proportioned uniqueness lingering through some other fluctuations on the palate, which is neat. not over the top sweet for what it is, very strong but not hot or hard to drink, enough bitterness for this to have balance, cherry and sesame go so well together, never knew that. salt is light but plays a neat role, adds minerality and dries this some, accentuates the cherries especially, which come a little medicinal with the alcohol, in a good way. very flavorful beer, chocolatey and complex, the sesame is a great touch in here, and overall its predictably fabulous from a brewery who has certainly earned my trust in this style space. not to be missed.