Black Force One (Bourbon Barrel Aged)
Xbeeriment I/S

 

 

X Beeriment – Black Force One Smoked Imperial Stout – 4.8 out of 7
Posted on July 22, 2016 by SmokeBeerMinistry
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I found a similar beer called #44 barrel edition from XBeeriment a while back, but wasn’t able to get the regular #44 to compare the two, which I even mentioned in the review. Well, persistence paid off because just 2 years later I was able to find Black Force One smoked imperial stout regular and the barrel edition. So be sure to check the variant review to see how barreling changes a beer.

This beer is dark, but not thick. Peaty, charred, and smoky notes waft around. Black Force One strikes me as a good drinking beer, but not a good savoring beer. Reminds me of a thin BCBS. It just occurred to me that this beer review started with a story, then I noticed peat, then I mentioned another beer, and now I find myself struggling to turn my head away from the TV. My takeaway is that this beer is not good enough to hold my attention as a great smokebeer often does. It’s not showcasing flavors from all over the spectrum that typically garners high marks. Final rating = 4.8 smokestacks out of a total possible 7 smokestacks.

Brewer Xbeeriment
Beer Name Black Force One
Brewer’s Description Our basic idea with this beer originated while making Xbeeriment Barack. When we’d done that we thought “What if we took it further?” So we decided to go for it and create an Imperial Stout made with 5 different kinds of malt including substantial amounts of peat smoked malt, roasted barley and 3 different hop varieties. We then added a 4th variety for dry hopping. Finally it was bottled unfiltered, bottle conditioned and left to mature in the bottle for 2 months before release. Serve at 12-14 degrees Celcius (53-57 degrees Fahrenheit).
Food Pairings Hamburgers
Brewery Location Roskilde, Denmark (by Herslev Bryghus)
Alcohol content by volume 10.4%
Beer opacity rate 1 – 7 (light – dark) 6
Smell smoke? 1 – 7 (No – George Burns) 4
Sausage detection? Y or N N
Smokepower taste: 1 – 7 Smokestacks 5
Beer thickness 1-7 (water – used motor oil) 4
Overall Happiness: 1 – 7 (sad – happy) 4.8
I cannot find any trace of Xbeeriment on the interwebs, but I haven’t checked the darkweb yet, so you might want to try that if so inclined.

Also, compare and contrast this with Black Force One Bourbon Barrel Edition which you may not see depending on how you’ve stumbled across this post:

https://smokebeerministry.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/x-beeriment-black-force-one-bourbon-barrel-edition-5-9-out-of-7/

 

 

Good stuff, but I don't pick up the bourbon or maple. I do get the oranges, oak, along with cocoa, coffee, black malt. leather. Short bitter finish.

 

 

 

Bottle I brought to share at Wowcoolman's tasting.

Pours an opaque black with a foamy dark khaki head that settles to wisps of film on top of the beer. Tiny dots of lace form around the glass on the drink down. Smell is of dark roasted malt, smoked malt, char, cocoa powder, wood, and slight bourbon aromas. Taste is much the same with cocoa powder, smoke, char, vanilla, bourbon, and wood flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of roast and wood bitterness on the palate with each sip. This beer has a lower level of carbonation with a slightly crisp and medium bodied mouthfeel. Overall, this is a good beer with a nice mix of cocoa, smoke, and bourbon barrel aged qualities that are better in the taste to me.

Serving type: bottle.

The bourbon and smoke did not meld well together here, and I love smoked stouts as well as bourbon barrel stouts. Something is waaaay dry on the smoke side, and the barrels weren't really picked up as much as the booze flavors themselves. Not terrible, but kinda meh.

pours pitch black with a line of white head. aroma hits a lot of traditional stout notes, with a light touch of barrel but generally underwhelming. The flavor starts off smooth enough and then just pounds into this very dark, bitter flavor, almost like coffee but also booze booze booze. this needs to age longer. the different malts give the beer a dark complexity more characteristic of a coffee stout than a bourbon barrel aged stout. perhaps the 'smoked' part brings more of that really dark flavor? in the end i was disappointed. just not enough complexity has been induced from the barrel aging process and this beer comes out too boozy tasting and too bitter for a barrel aged stout.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque black in the glass, with a thin brown head that dissipates to patches and light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, boubon, wood and oaky vanilla, hints of licorice and chocolate, slight oxidation. Flavor is rich sweet dark malt, chocolate, oak, vanilla, latte coffee; hints of licorice, nice. Excellent mouth feel, thick and creamy with pleasant carbonation. An extremely well balanced and integrated barrelled stout. The malt, coffee and bourbon blend together in into a milkshake like whole. Finishes smoothly with light residual coffee and faint hop bitterness. This was really tasty. Nicely done.

 

 

 

 

 

500 ml bottle. Served in a DFH snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch tan head that sticked around a while. There's also a good amount of lacing. Aroma is nice, the brew smells like bourbon, oak, vanilla, roasted malt, chocolate and coffee. I think the taste is similar to the aroma, but with the addition of some booze, peaty smoke and licorice. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's slick, creamy, smooth and easy to drink. Moderate carbonation. I thought this was a good overall brew. $13.99 a bottle.