Irish Whiskey Barrel Aged American Imperial Stout
Kuhnhenn Brewing Company

12 oz bottle purchased in the Prequinox six pack, three bottles of this and three bottles of Michigan Mud for the comparatively low price of $37. I would gladly pay $10 per bottle for a stout aged for (guuuhhh) TWO YEARS in Irish whiskey barrels. Insanity. Absolute insanity.

Poured into my Founders snifter.

A - big heavy head dissipates quickly. Dark, like the foam of an RIS, not an AIS. Oily thick, viscous, pours almost like sludge out of the bottle.

S - the smell hits me as soon as I pop the cap. Outrageous whiskey. Nothing but the vanilla, caramel, and oakey tones that accompany any good Irish, not nearly as harsh as most whiskeys. The alcohol comes through only as an associative scent. Hardly any "beer" to speak of, only some dark fruit and heavily roasted malts. Much too strong in general, but complex.

T - curiously, the beer is most prevalent in the taste. The barrel provides the sweet, alcoholic bite that one would expect from a beer like this, but otherwise it's all grain. Huge notes of raisin and red wine. Quite a bit like The Abyss, but boozier and bigger. Again, far too strong. It's not a thoroughly pleasant drinking experience, like drinking WWS fresh, but the intensity doesn't hurt the complexity.

M - meh. Really, much too rich. Too much booze, too much tongue puckering, and not enough attempt to refine flavors, only make them big and in your face. It's a little bitter and a little sweet, but unbalanced.

O - no one would argue that this beer is complex -- there are really a lot of flavors here. But the ingredients are very brashly combined, galvanized, and thrown together into this overly intense gallimaufry of grain and whiskey. Kudos to Kuhnhenn for aging a beer for two years in whiskey barrels (seriously, that's awesome), and for using a type of whiskey that is unfairly under-utilized by brewers. But the final product is too much for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to GRG1313 for sharing this one at his tasting.

2014 vintage.

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, cocoa, green apple, and alcohol aromas. Taste is much the same with cocoa, char, caramel, and toffee flavors on the finish. There is a mild amount of roast bitterness and an alcohol kick 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 that is tasty, but the green apple quality in the smell is a bit odd.