Barrel Aged Extra Baked
Bent Paddle Brewing Co.

Bent Paddle Barrel-Aged Extra Baked Imperial Stout, 8.3% ABV. Pours black with a nice two finger head that left lots of lacing. Nose is hot chocolate mix and coconut, taste follows plus roast malt and bourbon, slightly sweet, moderately bitter. Decent mouthfeel, overall outstanding.

 

Pours black, or a very, very dark brown with an almost one finger head. Aroma is bourbon, chocolate and coffee, though there is no coffee here. The bourbon aroma is quite nice. Taste is where it begins to fall apart -- body is on the lighter side of moderate. The bourbon taste is present but not as pronounced as promised by the aroma. Vanilla comes through as a profile now with coconut and chocolate at the very end of the sip. Nice but just misses the mark for me.

 

 

Smallish tan head. Very dark brown body and not really any highlights. Nice sticky lacing.
Roast, alcohol, sweetness of coconut and I pick up a little wood in the aroma.
Because smaller as a lighter feel yet still smooth and rich. I like it. Feels like less work to get through.
Malt dryness with some roast again. Bits of coconut that are stronger than the fading vanilla. Traces of wood on the finish.
This has many of the qualities of a much bigger beer, but it's advantage is the drinkability, which I appreciate a lot. Others many not.

 

Pours a thick clack color with a cherry tan head and small amount S of lacing. Smell is chocolate vanilla and coconut as advertised. Taste follows the nose with creamy chocolate vanilla rye and coconut and play just right in their addition to the base.Mouth feel is sweet and creamy all notes are complimented to each other. Its aged only 90 days but the barrel is present @ $2.49 a can yes please.

 

Poured into a Nonic. (The go-to of late for some reason).

Pours motor-oil dark. Not particularly viscous, but then, it is a barrel-aged brew, and that often takes some of the chewy edge off.

Aromas of chocolate, vanilla, marshmallow, bourbon, rum, and a bit of coconut (but just a bit).

The flavors follow. Chocolate and marshmallow on the tip of the tongue. Some coffee and ash in midstream. Bourbon, vanilla, and quite a bit of booze at the finish (fairly rummy). Oh, and no coconut.

The mouthfeel is a little chalky perhaps. Still pretty drinkable for the ABV.

I don't know what it is about coconut as a flavor, but this is yet another brew promising coconut that didn't deliver. Still a solid pastry stout.

12 oz can, no date, into Calusa Brewing snifter.

Pours an appropriate black color, not slick or thick, just simply black, with a very tall creamy head of 2 fingers, absolutely brown in color. Fades away to a finger, but not without leaving chunky lace on the sides of the glass. Interesting looking beer.

Aroma from the can is hard mineral water, ash, manure, low-calorie hot chocolate mix, marshmallow, and slight graham. Apart from the oddities it does smell like a hot cocoa around a campfire. Not bad. From the glass it's metallic and mineral water. I'm gonna ring this in as a 4.

Flavor starts earthy with dirt and roasted malt, but softens a little with some cocoa, marshmallow, burnt popcorn, and slight toasted caramel malt. Charred malt is still making a statement through these flavors. There is no bourbon/barrel in this. If it wasn't on the can, I wouldn't know the difference. They must've used 3rd or 4th generation barrels here. Not imparting anything. No coconut, either. Slight smoke. More cocoa on the finish, but the dusty kind.

Feel is hard water to the nth degree. Not always a bad thing with stouts, but it strangles the flavors out of the beer. Super busy. Hard carbonation, seltzer-y, moderate burn, no barrel stickiness, an odd overt creaminess on the back end, moderate to extreme dryness on the finish. Zero stickiness, and the carbonation takes the heft out of the beer. Feels like a supercharged overcarbonated nitro beer. Does not fit a bourbon barrel stout at all. Absolutely one of the worst feeling stouts I've ever had. What the hell happened here.

Overall, I want to like this beer, but I have to drop the hammer down. This is pretty shitty beer - if it in fact has all of these characteristics listed, including the barrel aging. Lacks in a big way. Not a total drain pour, but it is not what it promises. Not in the slightest. Could really use some help on the brewing water to soften it up and help these flavors to the surface. If I want to be mean, I'll say it's typical shitty Minnesota brewing prowess because apart from Surly not much has impressed me from next door (SD is no better).

I found it to be relatively cheap for a barrel aged beer, but in this case, you don't even get what you pay for. Pass forever and always.

$3.99 @ Hy-Vee :-(

Thin black body with a thin tan head. Aroma is that of a powered chocolate drink. Bourbon barrels are sadly missing. Tastes like baker’s chocolate and vanilla extract with some faint coconut. There might be a slight Bourbon flavor lingering after swallowing. Body is thin and very very chalky. Overall, not a very good example of a BBA Pastry Stout.

The barrel aging flavor does not come on too strong, which could be expected since the abv is a little lower than other BA beers. What does come on strong, though, is the chocolate flavor. I can get the coconut and vanilla if I look for it, but the chocolate is definitely the defining flavor.
Overall, a good beer, even if not as complex as some of the world class barrel aged stouts. As a pastry stout for someone that likes chocolate, I couldn’t have it regularly, but I’d buy it again and have it on the shelf for when I am in the mood.

 

Dark brown, near black with golden-brown thin head that dissipated to nothing quickly. Loads of coconut on the nose, chocolate, vanilla, bourbon and a hint of booze present too. Loads of shredded coconut flavor on the front that subdues as the beer gets warm, chocolate and vanilla present much more subtly and provide a firm background with the roast flavor of the malts. Barrel flavor is present but underwhelming, not necessarily a bad thing for the profile of the beer but an interesting mark when you consider the marketing of "BARREL AGED" right on the can. Mouth feel is underwhelming and definitively 'thin' for what should compliment a flavored stout.

Not bad but a reduction in coconut, more barrel flavor and a little bit of residual sugar whether from additional malt or a lactose addition would have gone a long way to creating the complete experience.

 

12oz can. Off center bottom can stamping looks like a date of 265-21.
Dark brown to black colored body. Quick pour bring up a one finger tan head, which settles back to a peaceful cap. No lacing.
Aroma has the chocolate and vanilla, along with a bit of coconut, on top of dark caramel malts. Smells a bit like a confectionery. Not any strong barrel notes, but there is a sense in the inner nose of the oak.
Taste has a range of chocolate, from sweet vanilla milk chocolate to darker cacao, and even a bit of bakers chocolate. The sweeter coconut comes in at the very end of the taste profile. Has a bit of bourbon burn. Very little bitterness.
Mouth feel is more than medium, with some tongue coating. Okay carbonation.
There is a right mix of sweet and dark chocolate, and the quietness of the beer allows for mouth swirls. The coconut is a minor touch but welcome. Great sipping beer. Has flavors that work well together but not too sweet to be cloying. Good entry beer for trying out a pastry stout.

 

 

Quarantine diary day eight: went for a long, cold walk in a local woods/park today with about 1,000 other people desperate to escape their homes. 12 oz. can.

Darkest brown/lightest black in the glass, along with wood & chocolate in the nose. The chocolate addict inside my little boy body is quivering with anticipation.

Barrel Aged Extra Baked actually tastes like some kind of weird, alcoholic, beer-sodden baked pastry. The power of suggestion…like the nose, the wood & chocolate is prevalent. Mid-palate is vanilla, touch of spiciness, ghost of coconut, with a finish of more wood, which runs through the beer like a streaker on a cold winter day. Bourbon barrels must be getting hard to come by, as this is the third “barrel aged” beer I’ve had in the past week with no bourbon in a lab-certified test. Moderate alcohol, moderate mouthfeel, moderate drinkability.

Overall moderate. Lovely wood bite with a good dose of chocolate, but the lack of barrel is disappointing. Overall, pretty good beer.