Wheated Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout
West Sixth Brewing Company

Dark but clear brew with adequate foam in the small snifter. Smells like fruitcake with old coffee. Unbelievably powerful flavors crammed into this stuff. I don't know where to start. Weirdly fruity and also hugely vanilla flavored. then it's burnt coffee and garbanzo beans. Very hot and sharp with cheap red wine flavor. Then there's the candy bars followed by the bitter charred grain. I can't argue with the laundry list of flavor descriptors of other reviewers, but to me this is a crazy mess. From the 12 oz can.

Teaming up with local Castle & Key distillers, West Sixth Brewing brews up a formidable imperial stout, layered with cocoa and vanilla and the slumberd in those Castle & Key bourbon barrels for a tandem in taste that’s fitting for the Bluegrass region.

Kicking off their Springhouse Series, the whetted Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout ’25 settles into the glass with an ominously dark, onyx black pour while releasing a dense and deep mocha whipped froth. As a boldly roasted scent of espresso, cocoa gown sugar and brownie batter suggest something sweet, there’s the oaken spice of whisky, wood, peppery booze and coconut that adds complexity and charm. Similarly in taste, a slather of blackstrap molasses, toffee and french vanilla coat the middle palate with malt. Trending sweet and spicy, the barrel influence becomes even more intense with strong flavors of nutty oak, weathered wood, leather, peppery bourbon, caramel, vanilla and cherry accented alcohol for a warm and extended finish of espresso roast and baker’s chocolate.

If two prominent alcohol makers are going to team up to frame the flavors of a region, then this display of boldness is exactly how you do it.

Black with tan head. Nose is bourbon and vanilla. Taste is chocolate and vanilla coffee. Very little char from bourbon barrels unfortunately. Good beer still.