Bourbon Barrel Aged Milk Stout With Coffee, Vanilla, & Cocao Nibs
West Sixth Brewing Company

 

 

 

Long name but simple pleasures, West Sixth's winter survival guide hits the taproom with all the chocolaty, coffee, vanilla and creamy goodness of hot chocolate, but built for adults. Teaming up with local Magic Beans roasters, and this milk stout has enough of a pick-me-up and put-me-down to get us to spring.

Deep and dark brown, just a shade away from pure black, the stronger than usual milk stout carries a modest haze and carries a crackling froth that settles with sandy lacing and retention. Its scent leads with the burnt edges of roast, oak and cocoa along with the creamy goodness of roasting marshmallow. Burnt caramels coat the tongue with the savory taste of roasting walnut, burnt toast, fresh brewed coffee, cocoa and burnt cream.

And across the tongue, the stout develops a malty, toasty, roasty complexity that releases its sweet edge and doesn't miss it at all. Trending dry, roasty and woodsy, the nuances of the bourbon barrel brings a spirited warmth that adds spice to the roasted edges and allows the beer to taste larger than its moderate strength. Caramel, light coconut, vanilla, nutty oak and a charred edge seems to support the earthen coffee blend particularly well. Its dry and roasty taste trends slightly smoky and with a pep of ash to close.

Medium-full in body, the beer's complexity and robust taste seems heavier than actual, but its spicy bourbon warmth, the dryness from a roast-derived astringency, the oaken tannins and the beer's own high attenuation keeps the beer surprisingly drinkable and dry. Yet with those astringent components coming through the beer's powdery finish seems to take away from the savory cream and vanilla character that the beer strives to show.