Nepenthe Ales Bourbon Barrel Aged The Shire Stout
Candia Road Brewing Company

Cellared this beer well but unfortunately neither time nor anything else was going to improve this sorry excuse for a bourbon barrel aged stout.

Look - poured with as much head as beer, but once you got over that unfortunate overcarbonation situation, a bed of head settled on top of a layer of chocolate brown.

Smell - old school char, nothing exciting, and no bourbon.

Taste - char, shoe leather, just pretty bad. No bourbon at all.

Feel - bubbles and thin

Overall - drain pour. Rarely do it, but this is just a really crappy beer.

 

 

Poured from a 650 ml bottle wax sealed purchased from Bert's on 1/20/16 . Bottle was waxed with what looked like used crayons. No cutting of wax needed to open a regular opener worked fine. Poured a black color with a tan Head and went down hill from there. The nose had no bourbon at all. there was some bitterness not sure what it was from. The taste followed the nose no bourbon to be found and a fairly bitter taste for a non sour stout. The mouth feel was okay not bad carbonation. I did manage to finish the bottle but at the $16.50 price I surely won't waste my money on another. I had hopes but the fell way short.

 

 

 

Very smooth but overly thin body,
Excellent aroma with plenty of baba and dark roasted grains
Dark brown, slightly hazy, very good head limited lacing.
Good, light carbonation.
Lasting aftertaste with both dark grains and bourbon and wood.

From the waxed capped 650 ml. bottle from the Winter of 2013. Sampled July 14, 2014.

It pours a highly attractive dark brown with chestnut/mahogany hues around the stem of the tulip glass. Foamy but short-lived tan head.

Some dark malts, chocolate, and a touch of coffee greet the nose as does just a hint of the Bourbon barreling. The Bourbon part is more subdued.

The body was thin but not really watery. There was a kind of creamy texture to it.

The chocolate and coffee malts are up first in the flavor and then the wooden Bourbon booziness sneaks in from the backside. It is there the whole time but never overtakes to malt sensations. Bitterness at the end.

 

 

Poured into a 16 oz Flying Dog tulip glass. Pours very black with a one inch tan head, that leaves behind some lace. Smell is bourbon, charcoal, chocolate, coffee, and licorice. Taste is all of that, bourbon and charcoal are dominant. Body is less than medium, enough life, a little dry, and goes down easy enough. This is okay, but for almost $15 I wanted much more!

 

Less boozy than most at 10.5%...I drank it in a shot glass next to a good IPA. Whatever,,,if this is your idea of what's good then it's better than most of the barrel-aged crap. There must be a "one beer contingent" out there that digs this kinda beer. Who the hell drinks one beer?

 

Bottle from Candia Road.
Pours a solid black with a decent sized tan head that quickly dissipates to wisps on top and leaves spotty lace. Aromas of ashy tobacco with bits of caramel and chocolate. Light fruitiness and light bourbon oak in the nose. The flavor is well unique. Very ashy smokey tobacco note. I literally conjure up images of ash trays as I sip this. Perhaps we went a hair too heavy on the roasted grains without some crystal sweetness to back it up? Roasted grain and bitter chocolate with a hint of brown sugary sweetness play supporting roles in the flavor here. Medium to thick body with a light level of carbonation and a chalky ashy gritty mouthfeel. Not my favorite stout, this one needs some work. Even the barrel treatment is not very evident here.