Barrel Aged Imperial Cherry Stout
Breckenridge Brewery & The Farm House

750ml bottle. BOTTLING DATE OF '03B16 17'. Caged and corked bottle.
Black colored body, with cherry colored back lit highlights. One finger of beige head. Leaves behind some spots of lacing
Aroma of chocolate and cherry, and some barrel.
Taste is chocolate malt and semisweet cherry. There is an influence from both the whiskey barrel and the port wine barrel.
Medium mouth feel. Good carbonation.
Well balanced with the wine and whiskey barrels and the malts and cherry.

 

its been a long time since i had a new beer from breckenridge, any beer at all from them really. when i moved out to colorado all these years ago now, i regarded them as one of my favorites, and their oatmeal stout was a regular in my fridge, but tastes and times have changed, and they sort of fell off my radar when the bud deal went down, but apparently wrongfully so, as this was a real treat, and something more ambitious than i have known these guys to be capable of in the past. its a really sturdy stout, bitter and sweet, lots of dark chocolate notes, like some gourmet chocolate bar with dried fruit in it. not overly sweet smelling to me, but the cherry is sweet and dark, like a brandy soaked black cherry. this has enormous depth of flavor and is really quite professional, with some really cool barrel character in the flavor. whiskey and port apparently, i get red wine in the cherries too, brandy and cognac sort of sweet regal richness, amazing with the chocolate, light tannins to cut the sweetness, and a charred sort of bitter finish from the grain. sweet from the cherries for sure, but drinkable, and enough booze that its not too thick, but its also not overly hot, i think this is really dialed in, and while the cherries taste sort of preserved to me, its still natural, and it comes through the base stout in the right amount. impressive stuff from these guys, i need to check out some more from this brewery lane series if they are all going to be this good!

Sampling a 32 oz crowler filled from the local beer store. A gift from my brother Brian. Thank you!
The beer pours a dark cocoa color with creamy khaki colored head of 2 cm that fades slowly to an edge layer and some islands. The foam leaves densely packed lattice as it slides down my glass.
The aroma is dark chocolate, brown sugar, molasses, dark fruits some cherry and plums primarily. I dont get any hop hits nor any booze to be called to attention.
The first sip reveals a smooth creamy textured body with very fine spacious and gentle carbonation. The beer drinks very easy and goes down smooth with a little bit of coating on my palate after each swallow.
Flavor is sweet chocolate, some brown sugar and dark fruit again. I get cherry, plums and red grape mixing in with the malt sweetness. This beer is big but no hints of booze here either. Not a lot of roasted malt character, more sweet malt and fruit and no hops that I can find.
Kind of scarily drinkable and super smooth body make this a nice big beer treat for a cold winter night.

This is a very nice beer and it would lend itself perfectly to a vertical aging release in a few years. For now, I get a lot more of the flavor imported by the port barrel than anything else, even at the expense of the cherry flavor of the beer. But that's not a problem, because not that many breweries age beers in port barrels, so extra credit to them for even trying this. I didn't feel the 9.5%, that's for sure. This is a beer that shows Breckenridge's creativity, even after the big ownership change.

 

32oz growler filled at Heinen's in Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Growler poured into a tulip. Pours almost black with a chunky khaki head that falls leaving nice retention and sticky lacing. The aromas are balanced. Cocoa malts are there along with some cherries. The wine and whiskey aromas are subtle, but definitely noticeable. Hints of vanilla and coconut in the mix as well. The flavors basically follow the nose, but are a bit bolder. The cherries and wine barrels gives this one some sweetness, but nothing crazy or cloying. Solid malt backbone. Some subtle roasted characteristics. More vanilla and coconut. The whiskey characteristics are subtle as well, but come through. Alcohol goes completely unnoticed and is well hidden. Mouthfeel is on the lighter side of full-bodied with moderate to active carbonation. It's fluffy and slightly thin at the same time. It's pretty smooth and dangerously drinkable.

This is a solid stout. Balance is the key with this one. The cherries, wine and whiskey notes all come through without dominating. This isn't a crazy intense stout, but it's enjoyable stuff.

I had this on tap at Mellow Mushroom (10 Oz).

A really good beer.

Nice appearance, pours dark with a nice-looking head, as with any imperial stout.

Good flavor: nice balance with the sour cherry: not too much (as some sour stouts seem to have) sour flavor.

Good aroma & mouth-feel.

Not much in the barrel-aged flavor department, but still a solid imperial stout..

 

 

 

One of the smoothest tasting cherry stouts I've had. The best thing about this cherry stout is that there is hardly any perceived sourness in the cherries, yet it is not a cloying sweet beer. I'm not usually into wine aged or partially wine aged beers, but this is a very balanced beer. It also has a nice lingering lacing.