Barrel Aged Viva La Beaver
Belching Beaver Pub 980

 

 

Smells wonderful and tastes similar of heavy peanut, salted tart plum, sweet chocolate, rye barrel tang with cinnamon spice and thick mouthfeel. This is an amazing beer, if you see it get it.

Peanut butter to the nose. Stains glass a little. Simple yet tasty. Lots of chocolate and peanut butter with a nice bourbon flavor. Smooth finish.

 

 

pours dark with great smell - just purchased so don't think it is retired - great chocolate and peanut butter taste - good malt chacter

500ml bottle split into snifters; a fairly-recent release so obviously not retired.

A: Dense brown/black pour with a large mocha-colored head that fades quickly away.

S: Decadent chocolate peanut butter and hints of cinnamon swirled together with creamy whiskey and hints of espresso and roasted malt.

T: Again, creamy peanut butter and decadent milk chocolate seem to go everywhere together across the palate; heat from the whiskey and cinnamon combine nicely, just enough to let you know the alcohol is there but it isn’t boozy. There’s a lot going on, very rich and sweet, although just like the original, the coffee component is very buried and tough to find.

MF: Creamy, smooth, full.

O: I loved the original version of Viva. This is GOOD but the barrel-aging is almost not necessary; as a dessert beer, either the regular or this BA one is worth checking out. Both are excellent, the regular is just a bit easier to drink. Asking for more coffee flavor and aroma is probably too much, as there is already so much going on in this brew, but I do wish it had more espresso notes to balance the sweetness.

 

16.9 oz bottle poured into Snow Man chalice.

Pours a silky dark black color with a tall creamy head of 2 fingers, receding to 1/2 finger and the lace sticks to the head but does not adhere to the glass.

This beer smells like Viva La Beaver but much much naughtier. There's some kind of contraband vibe going with it...like an illegal peanut butter stout. You get the peanut butter and the chocolate, but there's some alcohol smacked molasses and really sharp alcoholic barrel that when you look over at the bottle, it curls a sly smile and says "shh don't say anything".

Flavor initially is absolutely delectable with heavy peanut butter, chocolate, red hots, and jalapenos, and then the whiskey barrel arrives which comes in swinging full force, almost taking over the beer completely. Consecutive sips prove this, and it does come across as a bit of a beastly whiskey bomb.

Feel is paper thin at the start and then wells up in creaminess bumping it up to medium bodied bordering on thick, with following stickiness and alcohol cut and tons of burn.

Overall, a wonderful barrel aged peanut butter stout and probably the only one of its kind that I've had. Does grow a bit hard to finish by the time half the bottle is gone, so I split it with my wife. The harsh molasses/huge whiskey does get overpowering and although it tastes good it is a choresome sipper.

Price paid : $13.99 / bottle
Would buy again : maaaaybe