Turn And Burn
War Horse Brewing Company

Pours a fairly effervescent chestnut/mahogany with 2 fingers of mocha colored head. Below average head retention & lacing

S: Plenty of barrel, plums, dark cherry, & figs, faint chocolate, fades a little once warmer

T: Follows the nose, getting some caramel & salted dried plums. dryness & Baker's Chocolate up front, Bourbon is artfully crawling all over this. Baker's Chocolate. leafy hops, barrel sweetness & dryness, a little caramel, salted plums & dark cherry once this beer is warmer, Bourbon on the edges. Finishes with some barrel sweetness, a little char, dryness. caramel, chocolate, black cherry tobacco & salted plums

MF: Chewy as hell, restrained carbonation with plenty of warmth. Carbonation picks up a little once warmer

Luxurious take on the style, barrel presentation is great. Great beer post to post, started out a little aggressive but just grabbed my attention & never let go

Draft at the brewery
pitch black inky think beer, brown thick head with fair retention, sticky lacing

Intense dark malt, roasted, little char, plenty of vanilla barrel, baking spices, bourbon barrel juice, chocolate

Taste rich toasted roasted malt heavy dark thick malt, chewy, caramel, nougat, into dark chocolate, vanilla barrel, baking spices, bourbon sweetness, fair bitterness

Mouth is full rich chewy thick, light warming alcohol, med carb

Sampling a 16 oz can (no wax) poured into a small water glass (Im in a hotel, so proper glassware out the window).
Picked up the can at the brewery about 2 weeks ago. Can is date stampled 9/27/2023 (!!) should be fine for a big BBA Imperial stout. But the can label says "Keep Cold and Drink fresh". Can was on a shelf in the middle of dining/drinking area, not refrigerated. Im not worried, but not practicing what is preached on the label.
Beer pours jet black and thick into my glass. Very dark beer and only a minimal fizzy tan head foams up and fades to a thin edge layer soon after the pour. Definitely looks like a serious imperial stout.
Aroma is some charred wood, molasses and dark chocolate mixing together with a mild dose of bourbon in the background. No hop character and not boozy or fusol nose, which is impressive for 11.6% abv brew.
First sip reveals a medium body with fairly smooth texture and very fine and tingly carbonation. Drinks pretty easy on the physical traits.
Flavor is similar to what the nose advertised with a little more bourbon here. I get the same charred wood note, some dark chocolate, some toasty bourbon, not sweeter notes. I get just a little black peppery bite, but not any associated warming or heat coming in.
This beer is a big imperial stout that drinks pretty easy and also scratches the BBA itch pretty nicely, kinda wish I bought another can of the base stout. Onto some variants next weekend!

Received in a trade from @micada and there was no wax on the can, maybe it is no longer being done?
Poured used oil black with little head.
No aroma for me, stupid Covid.
The taste had oak from the barrel but not much bourbon, more like a RIS that was aged in a clean oak barrel.
Good stuff though, I enjoyed it.

Ok, I admit it, part of the alure was the upside-down waxed can. However, the deal was sealed after reading other people's impressions and seeing the price was reasonable.

It is jet black with a creamy dark walnut head that lingers for a long while. That head, BTW, sparkles copper/gold in a Swiftwater Snifter glass, while forming a coating of lace on the far-side and patches on the near. Each sip deposits a thick viscous film that clings for a while before allowing legs to fall.

The aroma is an interesting mélange of sweet bourbon and malt, combined with dark roasted malt and mild peat. Later comes some charred malt and light anise.

Bitterness takes the lead, inviting sweetness to build and fade repeatedly. Strong charred malt works well with the sweet bourbon. Accents of espresso, baker's chocolate, vanilla, and licorice all work in unison. The finish is long, mild, and is spiked with memories of the bourbon.

As expected, nay desired, the alcohol is quite strong initially. This fades as the thick and chewy body coats the tongue. The texture is soft and supple as deerskin leather. That alcohol continues to nibble as carbonation pricks the mouth and throat. Residual sugars build on the lips.

This is an example of the beer being worth of the gimmick. It is a special beer that delivers on all fronts. I enjoyed it late in the spring afternoon, with cool dry air and songbirds filling the silence.

 

 

Pours like mud. Dark brown foam. Dark chocolate aroma. Deep dark flavors in this one. Chocolate and coffee. Bourbon and smoke. Silky bitter finish. Heavy but drinkable. Drank this way too quickly. Really excellent.

This one pours a very dark black color, with small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like roasted malt, char, vanilla, dark chocolate, caramel, light wisps of smoke, dark fruit.

This is maybe a little bit thin, but the flavor is really quite spot on. There’s a lot of great barrel character – char, caramel, vanilla, light smokiness, and lots of oak. There’s also a good amount of dark chocolate, some roast, and a touch of dark fruit sweetness.

This is medium-ish bodied, not really thick, maybe a little bit thinner than I’d want, but still pretty drinkable.

This is surprisingly one of the better local barrel aged options around here. War Horse is a solid brewery, but they’re certainly not really known as a powerhouse.

 

Appearance: Ink black, mocha colored head that just disappeared while I was typing.

Smell: Raisins, booze, caramel, dark chocolate, soy sauce.

Taste: Sweet, warm and boozy. Semi-dark chocolate, woody, vanilla, dates. Booze comes through loud and clear.

Feel: Medium to full bodied. Really nice alcohol warmth up front but it dies off real quick. It's a sipper.

Overall: It's brash. I like it.

Pretty solid barrel aged imperial stout, I might have liked just a little more barrel influence, as some woodiness and more alcohol presence would cut through the substantial sweetness here. A little underattenuated for my taste but just so. Medium full body with light but present carbonation and an overall creamy and pleasing feel. The brewer mentions notes of marzipan (among other things) and I get that in a subtle way and really dig it - it does kind of set this apart from other similar beers and add a note of interest. There’s a syrupy cola aspect I’m less enamored of but overall an enjoyable and worthwhile purchase.

Poured from a 16 ounce can (with weird plastic faux-wax on the wrong end) into a 'skinny snifter'

L: very dark, even for a stout (extra black? :) ) , little head that dissipated to a thin ring quickly

S: not strong, but a nice, clean RIS aroma (even though it is categorized as 'American Imperial') . . . maybe I found it especially refreshing after too many pastry stouts. The bourbon / barrel scent was subtle. The smell wasn't enticing in-and-of-itself, but I associate it with a stout whose taste I will like.

T: A solid RIS (I know) taste and curious if the base beer is available. As it warms the bourbon becomes more prominent and there seemed to be a sweet spot somewhere in the 10-20 minutes in glass period (coming from a fridge at near freezing). The 4.25 I gave it reflects the average. No aftertaste to speak of.

F: As expected. I did not find it thin. Somewhat creamy.

O: I liked it. My favorite offering from Warhorse to date and an above average offering in the BA stout world. I thought the packaging was a bit cheesy and the price ($7 for a 16oz single) was a little high for something local to me, but . . . I would still take it over 3 or 4 of the 6 different Tree House stouts / porters I had in the last two weeks and any of the three non-Tree House stouts I have had recently (including one other from War Horse).

Received this local in a generous trade with @micada

Appearance: Black with a modest sized, dark, foamy, and beige head that slowly faded. A nice looking imperial Stout.

Smell: Moderate Bourbon aromas, mild coffee/roasted malt aromas and brown sugar aromas.

Taste: The Bourbon notes stand out immediately, followed by moderate brown sugar notes, and mild roasted malt notes, I also believe I pick up some faint tannic oak notes. The beer is somewhat sweet with the prominent bourbon and browns sugar notes featuring strongly and the roasted malts and tannic oak notes are fairly mild and not able to dry the beer out more in the finish.

Mouth-feel: On the very light side of medium bodied with a modest level of carbonation. fairly thin for an Imperial Stout.

Overall: Fairly simple flavor profile but a tasty Imperial Stout. I love that so many breweries can do bal-aging well these days.

Amazing bourbon barrel aged imperial stout. Honestly this is one of the best beers I’ve had from them. Rich chocolate with a little kick enough to taste the bourbon but not a punch to the face. Absolutely spectacular!