Magnificent
Rochester Mills Beer Co.

 

 

 

Pours black with a finger of dark caramel foam on top. Fair head retention with no lacing left behind. Aroma is caramel, toffee, lactose, bourbon, oak, and roasted malts. It has a boozy bite, but not overwhelmingly-so. Flavor profile is caramel, toffee, coffee, lactose, with roasted and toasted malts. Bourbon and oak show up later in the flavor profile and linger until the final notes. Not boozy, despite the presence of bourbon in the flavor profile. Mouth feel is velvety, and creamy at first, but falls apart as it warms. It has a medium thickness. Overall, lots going on here, but all is done well. Sweet notes in both the aroma and flavor profile, combined with the boozy bourbon create a fun to drink stout.

Served in a 12oz snifter from a 16oz can.

 

Of the Rochester Mills 2017 BBA offerings, this one was the best for me. The initial aroma was heavy bourbon, yet the first taste was very smooth and reminiscent of a good semi sweet chocolate. As the beer warmed, more and more of the flavors manifested into a very rich, enjoyable stout. It poured very dark, with a light lacy head, the feel in the mouth was silky and sweet. I will be enjoying more of these in the future!

 

 

There is a 2/9/17 stamp on the bottom of the 16 oz can that I will have to deduce is a drink by date since it has been in my fridge long before last week.

Poured into a large snifter, it is a glossy black with a substantial, fairly frothy, but well short of milkshake like, tan head. Retention is decent. There is a constant film on top with some spotty lacing around the glass as it works it's way downward.

It smells strongly of bourbon and oak. Slightly difficult to single out a whole lot else, but there is some noticeable vanilla, condensed milk, chocolate, and charred grain.

The flavor is pretty much dominated by whisky notes. A lot of charred oak, tannins, vanilla, and corn grain. You really have to let it warm to near room temperature to get much from the base beer. There is a significant amount of chocolate and bitterness. Probably partially from the magnum hops. The lactose really becomes more noticeable toward the end too. Otherwise, there is a nice amount of roasted barley.

The body still has a fairly creamy texture for a barreled beer, and it doesn't come across too heavy for the style, which at 9% it could.

This one is tough to score honestly. As a milk/sweet stout, I don't feel like the base is strong enough and with the abv level, it really becomes it's own thing (barrel aged beer category anyone??). That being said, it is still very good, and as a bourbon guy, I enjoyed the hell out of it.

On that note, "Cooperage" is a second hand barrel dealer, and I can't help but notice the 4 rose images on the label. Based on the high quality of bourbon character in this one, I think it's safe to say whose barrels were used.

A - Pours a pitch black with a two finger creamy tan head. Nice amount of soapy lacing.

S - Aroma is heavy bourbon and milk chocolate.

T - The taste is bourbon, dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla and roasted malts.

M - Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Creamy mouthfeel with a soft dry finish.

O - This is a pretty solid BBA sout. The only drawback is the bourbon dominates the flavor not leaving much room for any other flavors to stand out .

 

 

 

 

From can to pint glass. Dark brown liquid with a small ring of foam. Aroma is almost all bourbon, with some light roasted notes. Flavor, thankfully, is a bit more complex. Coffee, cocoa, vanilla, cream, and then booze. Not bad, but not anything to get excited over.

Dark black pour, with a generous nutty head of 1 finger, leaving tons of nice lace behind.

Nose is just tons of sickly sweet barrel aromas. Lots and lots of bourbon and sugar. Fake chocolate.

In the flavor, the barrel hits first, with tons of burnt whiskey and brown sugar, followed by total antiseptic, and then roast malts and fake chocolate, and it just dissipates completely into water after that.

Feel is over carbonated and very hot from the barrel.

Rochester Mills really needs to work on their stouts. I'm kind of disappointed here. There's no real substance to this, it's just all barrel, masking a shitty base beer, and a bunch of fake chocolate. I was really expecting more from a barrel aged beer, but this was just done poorly. It's taking a lot of effort for me not to dump it.

 

 

 

16 ounce can into snifter, best before 2/9/2017. Pours pitch black color with a 1-2 finger dense dark tan head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, bourbon, toffee, toasted oak, dark bread, cream, smoke, light molasses/dark fruit/char, and roast/oaky earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, lactose, and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, bourbon, toffee, toasted oak, dark bread, cream, smoke, light molasses/dark fruit/char, and roast/oaky earthiness. Light-moderate roast/char bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, bourbon, toffee, toasted oak, dark bread, cream, smoke, char, and roast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, lactose, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a great roasted bitter/sweet and bourbon/oak spiciness balance, and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Light dryness from roast/char bitter and bourbon/oak spiciness, increasing through the glass. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/silky, fairly sticky/chalky, and lightly slick balanced mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is well hidden, a small warmth lingering after the finish; with minimal barrel booziness. Overall this is an incredible BBA imperial milk stout! All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, lactose, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and easy to sip on for the big ABV. Very rich and complex; but not overly sweet due to the higher amount of black/roast malt presence, along with the barrel. Feels more like a proper BBA imperial stout than a sweet stout; but is still a highly enjoyable offering.