Darkest Hour - Whiskey Barrel-Aged
Anchorage Brewing Company

 

16 oz can from Tavour. Dark black, thick pour, tiny ring of brown head. Aroma is roast, chocolate, coffee, molasses and whiskey barrels. Taste reflects the aroma, nice bitterness and gentle warmth. Smooth, thick, creamy. Excellent RIS.

 

This beer pours a thick, molasses-esque black into the glass and smells like chocolate-covered cherries with some light raspberry notes. It tastes like chocolate, raspberries, and blueberries, and there are strong hints of coffee with a healthy dose of whiskey from the 15 months that it was aged in whiskey barrels.

 

 

 

 

Made the mistake of drinking this on a hot summer day instead of a cold winter night, should have saved it for later. Regardless, a bit too thick and syrupy for my taste, but still pleasing and hides the 13% rather well. Hopefully I can score another and enjoy it in front of the fireplace on a snowy winter eve.

Pours a viscous inky black with a dense, dark coffee head. The head dissipates fairly quickly and leaves minimal lacing. This beer has great legs! With each sip, a thin, dark brown film coats the inside of the glass before dropping quickly back into the body.
The aroma is a complex combination of whiskey, molasses, toffee, and prunes. The taste is equally complex, with dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and oak adding to the dark fruit, toffee, and whiskey from the nose.
The high ABV is well hidden, with only mild heat on the swallow. The mouthfeel is thick and sticky.

 

750 ml bottle into snifter; batch #3, bottled in 12/2016. Pours dense opaque pitch black color with a 1 finger dense dark brown head with great retention, that reduces to a thin cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, fudge, vanilla, whiskey, toasted oak, and dark bread; with lighter notes of coconut, raisin, prune, cherry, date, leather, tobacco, licorice, anise, smoke, ash, pepper, and roast/toast/oak earthiness. A bit of booze in the aromas as it warms, but not overwhelming. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, whisky barrels, and light-moderate fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, fudge, vanilla, whiskey, toasted oak, and dark bread; with lighter notes of coconut, raisin, prune, cherry, date, leather, tobacco, licorice, anise, smoke, ash, pepper, and roast/toast/oak earthiness. Very mild roast/char bitterness and whiskey/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, fudge, vanilla, whiskey, toasted oak, dark bread, dark fruit, leather, tobacco, licorice, light smoke/ash, and roast/toast/oak earthiness on the finish for a while. Incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, whisky barrel, and light-moderate fruity yeast flavors; with a great roasted bitter/sweet balance, and zero cloying/acrid flavors after the finish. Minimal dryness. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very smooth, creamy, silky, velvety, and rich mouthfeel that is fantastic. Slight slickness, stickiness, chalky roast, and oak tannins. Mildly warming 13%, with zero barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is an amazing barrel aged Belgian imperial stout! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, whisky barrel, and light-moderate fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV. Extremely deep/rich malt complexity, with amazing barrel integration; not overly boozy, tannic, or drying. Solid Belgian yeast presence; well restrained and not overly fruity. A highly enjoyable offering, and amazing style example as expected. Not much different than the brandy one I had previously. Slight differences in barrel complexity.

 

 

 

A - Pours motor oil black with a one finger dark brown head. Light amount of lacing.

S - Aroma is dark chocolate and roasted malts.

T - The taste is dark chocolate, vanilla, roasted malts, dark fruits, oak and light whiskey.

M - Full bodied with low carbonation. Syrupy mouthfeel with soft creamy finish.

O - Pretty solid whiskey aged imperial stout. The flavors are reminiscent of a fudge brownie. Definetly a slow sipper.

 

Crazy black pour, the head is dark brown. There isn’t much lacing but there is a subtle amount of retention. The smell of the beer has a nice sweet roasted aroma, some barrel booze to it as well. The taste of the beer has a very silky chocolate flavor with some oak and vanilla in there too. The feel is very rich and chewy. Overall it’s a very nice Stout, very happy I got to try it.

Reviewing under this entry because Batch 3, from December 2016, is billed as being aged in mixed whiskey barrels, rather than the combination of pinot noir and rye barrels in the main listing. Pours with minimal dark brown-red head that immediately dissipates, leaving a thick, syrupy stout with serious legs that make the side of the glass look like it has jaundice. Fortunately, the flavors are glorious, despite still being a bit hot and boozy after the year of patient ageing. Bitter dark chocolate, marshmallow, vanilla, amaretto liqueur, and bourbon oak, with Belgian spices and a waft of potpourri.