Barrel Aged Brewtus
Monocacy Brewing Co.

 

On tap at Monocacy Brewing in Frederick, VT, listed as McClintock Barrel Aged Brewtus. I believe McClintock is a local distillery in Frederick.

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like oak, spice, rich coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla, and bourbon.

Much like the base Brewtus, this is excellent. The barrel doesn't overpower here, it sort of adds little touches here and there. The oak spice added from the barrel really plays well with the rich, roasty, and slightly vanilla-ish coffee character. There's a touch of actual bourbon, but it's mild - the barrel mainly provides oak character. There's lots of dark chocolate, too.

This is medium bodied, creamy, and nicely drinkable, with no real booziness to it.

I'd normally be hesitant about the prospect of a barrel aged stout at only 8.6%, but this worked well for me.

 

 

 

BA Brewtus is definitely an improvement over Brewtus. Smoother, less ashy, more complexity going on with the chocolate, coffee and bourbon flavors. Not hot/boozy at all, despite having fresh on tap. Highly recommend.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured from a 32oz. bomber to a snifter.

L - Super dark, tons of light brown head that stuck around as a nice ring around the top of the glass

S - Coffee, chocolate, and bourbon

T - Tons of coffee, bourbon is there as well but not overtaking the coffee, tons of flavor

F - Super thick and viscous

O - Barrel is a nice addition to an already super coffee forward beer, well done

Fresh growler. Pour is thick black with tan head. Aroma is big chocolate and espresso, light pepper. Tater is very smooth chocolate, pepper and strong coffee, booze is very mellow. Easy drinking even in the summer

From a growler. Pours thick oil with about a one finger head. Not especially fragrant, but smells of coffee and bourbon, nothing overpowering. Tastes is extremely smooth. Coffee, but not as rough as regular Brewtus, almost like the bourbon fills in the gaps between the coffee and the beer. It's not especially chewy but thick enough - slightly thinner than a pt5th I say. Overall this is a great coffee stout. It doesn't have the depth of BCBS, but it is quite tasty and, at 8.6%, the closest thing to a "session" BA stout you'll see. One of the best beers made in MD. Highly recommended.