Imperial Oatmeal Stout Aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels
West Sixth Brewing Company

Pours black small tan head not much lace.

Aroma is nice smooth roasted malts lots of chocolate, sweet oats, dark fruits.

Taste is smooth, lots of chocolate, big smooth full bodied thanks to the oats. Good dark fruit notes, with light cherry hints.

Mouthfeel is big full bodied brew, smooth carbonation.

Overall nice big stout smooth tasty easy drinking brew.

 

Teaming up with local Kentucky alcohol retailers, Liquor Barn, the masterful beer minds at West Sixth devise an imperial oatmeal stout that stands up to Liquor Barn's privately selected Maker's Mark barrels exceptionally well.

The Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Oatmeal Stout pours a dark and tawny garnet, brown, bronze and black. The masculine melange has the beer looking like a deep port or sherry, but capped with a squatty creme of froth. Decadent aromas waft over the senses with deep caramels, toffee, vanilla, oak, chocolate and whisky. Coconut and an umami rich scent soon leads to a lavishly sweet and syrupy taste that's strikes the tastebuds like molasses and maple.

As the beer works its way across the middle palate, its juicy maltiness saturates the tastebuds with cloying sugars with relative ease. Milk chocolate, deep toffee, port wine and candied pecans keep the complexity coming sip after sip. Oak, vanilla and coconut comes in stride with a patient follow through of macerated cherries, berries and red grape. Whisky spice offers to balance the sweetness to a slim degree in the absence of prominent roast or a bolder hopping regimen.

Relegated to a slow and sipping affair, the beer's candy sweet finish lays weightily on the palate because of its soft carbonation and its cask-like expression. Somewhat simplistic in its sweet taste and texture, the beer relies on a long and succulent barrel set of complexities to carry the load while a constant simmer of bourbon spice delights the drinker to close.