Mr. Sandman XO 2024
River North Brewery

 

Light carbonation with a thick, heavy body
Aroma was bourbon, boozy,mild wood qnd coffee with dark and milk chocolate.
Taste is a flawless expression of the aroma
Overall a phenomenal excellent beer

I love River North’s high octane barrel age program. They’re strong, obviously, but they’re usually flavorful and well balanced. Getting whiskey and bourbon more than anything, but there’s some mild notes of coffee, toffee, and maple syrup (must be from the Canadian beers). Not a strong alcohol burn. Has a slight thickness. Need to let it warm to see if that changes it, but enjoyable chilled.

From a 375ml bottle.

There's a nice bit of smoke wafting out of the bottle upon opening. The beer is pitch black looking in the glass. It looks somewhat thick in the glass, and while pouring. There's a 1 finger brown colored head that had nice small looking bubbles. The head retention is fairly poor, but not unexpected considering the ABV. The head dissipates to a ring around the glass with no lacing on the glass.
The aroma is somewhat light to my nose. I do get bourbon notes in here. I get faint notes of chocolate that hit my nose, as some hints of vanilla and dark fruit. The nose is a lot fainter than I was expecting, not unpleasant, but faint.
Taste - This is a tasty liquid that the flavor profile just builds. It is a mellow start to the flavor. It has a dark fruit start that builds and expands to other flavors. I get chocolate notes after the dark fruit as well as vanilla. Caramel and toffee also show up to the party. The finish is a nice barrel flavor that is a good way to close the flavor profile off.
This beer does have a full body to it. The feeling is also quite smooth. Very thick feeling. There's a bit of a burn on the back that tells you to take your time with this beer.
This beer is a tasty imperial stout, and I'm so glad I got the chance to try it.

Pours jet black with a deep brown head. Aroma is wonderful and strong -- dark fruity, drak chocolate & oakiness. Taste is intensely chocolately, sharp bitterness, and perfectly matched amount of whiskey. Mouthfeel falls just on the medium side of the medium-full line. Overall, a wonderful stout.

Deep, dark pour, opaque in the glass; thin, wispy head, khaki colored. Great scent; bitter and baker's chocolate; oak barrel; muted ester notes of black cherry. Fantastic taste; cocoa and milk chocolate; very subdued whiskey; extremely mild bitterness. Beautifully rich and dense mouthfeel; soft and delicately velvety; pillowy residual sugars coat the palate.

I would venture to say that this is one of River North's most approachable barrel aged behemoths. One of the best...???...mmm, no...unique and and fine in its own right...???...definitely. The beer really cloaks its high ABV quite well while delivering a deceptively mellow and easy drinking barrel aged dark beer experience. I foresee more personal and beer trade sharing of this lovely beer in the future.

ABV: 14.2%; pouring temperature: 60 °F; bottling info: 2024
Source: local purchase (Coaltrain Fine Wine, Craft Beer & Spirits)

09/24/24 bottle @ home