Texas Bourbon Barrel Series Imperial Coffee Ale
Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling

Got in a BIF from OzzyLizard. 12 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 8/31/2022. Pours hazy and lightly murky dark brown color with a 1-2 finger foamy and fluffy tan head with poor retention, that reduces to nothing really quickly. No lacing and some streaming carbonation on the glass. Aromas of big nutty medium roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, biscuit; light vanilla, coconut, cocoa, and a bit of booze/yeast earth. Taste follows with big nutty medium roast coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, biscuit, herbal, grass; light pepper, vanilla, coconut, cocoa, and yeast earth. Light-medium herbal/coffee bitterness and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; creamy/silky malts; with lingering sticky hop and bourbon/oak tannin drying after the finish. Lingering warmth and booze of barrel and 11.6% into the gut. Very impressive, minimal complaints. Plenty of coffee still present and plenty of strong barrel integration. Probably the same base beer as the imperial brown from the BBA series. I liked this a little bit more.

Look: Amber
Smell: raisin, prune, sweet malt, slightly boozy
Taste: Prune, boozy raisins, slight coffee on the back end.
Feel: medium-light, low to nil carbonation (probably the most surprising, and odd thing about a bourbon barrel beer with 11.6%)
Overall: it's alright, not bad, but nothing super desirable either for my personal tastes.

Texas Bourbon Barrel Series Imperial Coffee Ale from Ranger Creek. Purchased at the brewery, 31/10/22. $ 13.87 (Including tax)/4-pack 12 oz cans ($ 0.289/oz). Room temperature shelf at store, stored at 34 degrees at home. Reviewed 20/11/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated can. Served at 54.5 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 59.1 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), hazy.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), opaque. Under direct light, reveals many tiny particles in suspension. Rear-lite, brown, and nearly opaque, brown at the edges.
Head – Average (Maximum 3.6 cm, aggressive center pour), wheat, high density, quickly diminishing to a 0.5 cm crown and thin complete cap.
Lacing – None. At 11.6% ABV I really wasn’t expecting any.
Aroma – 3.75 – Coffee. No hops, no malt, no yeast, no bourbon. Somewhat less aromatic than an equally large cup of coffee, but not as hot, so …
Flavor – 4.25 – Coffee-forward and slightly bitter with some chocolate notes. No yeast, no hops. No ethanol (11.6 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. Weak whiskey, not necessarily bourbon, appears on the aftertaste. Moderate gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl.
Palate – 3.5 – Medium, approaching creamy, lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 3.75 (After deducting 0.25 points for unlabeled personal container.) Temperature is important to bring out the flavor of this brew – too cold and most of the flavor and aroma are undetectable. Once it’s up to temperature, the flavors come out; unfortunately, the aroma doesn’t step up as well and the palate is a bit thin.

From a can produced 3/4/20. Dark brown color with minimal head. Smells of bourbon and brown sugar. Medium body. Sweet malt flavors, a hint of coffee, and some raisin/brown sugar on the finish. There's a hint of coffee but not a whole lot, it's more of a strong brown ale.

 

L - light brown with almost no head to speak of.

S - buttery barrel dominates with a hint of coffee mixed in there.

T - more barrel with the base beer getting lost. Not bad, but has a lot of room for improvement.

F - very thin.

O - meh. I will drink all of the ones I bought but probably won’t buy again. For the price point I bought mine at I would say “give it a go”.