Barrel Roll (2019) - w/Cocoa Nibs & Vanilla
BuckleDown Brewing

12 ounce can into a snifter. Canned 7/19/19, had 8/10/20.

Pours an opaque, dark brown, with a quarter inch quickly dissipating head and light, foamy lacing. Aromas of milk chocolate, bourbon, malt, vanilla, some caramel as it warms, some char, light cocoa. A stronger bourbon presence to start the flavor, then milk chocolate, vanilla, malt and again, some caramel as it warms. Smooth, a solid full body, well carbonated.

Excellent barrels, the chocolate and vanilla are great. Well done.

 

Hard to rate this as an English sweet/milk stout, as it’s so much more than that. Obviously pretty exceptional based on that categorization, as the barrel characteristics are exemplary. But it’s a 14%+ beer, so...

Jet black and thick body, with a thin mocha head and faint lacing. Looks the part of a milk stout pouring out of the bottle, but then looks like a BA stout in the glass.

Honest to the category on the nose before the barrel notes roll in. Chocolaty, sweet, latte/mocha notes. Then the vanilla and oak and char and baking spices arrive in waves. Delicious on the nose.

Delicious on the tongue, as well. Chocolate, rye bread, sweet latte, and a faint hit of cinnamon. Vanilla and toffee and charred oak from the barrel. Not boozy at all, which is dangerous. Certainly tasty but not overly sweet or cloying like many equally-big BA stouts. This beer is different, even at 14%+.

Feel is milk stout, not BA stout. Light and thin and silky smooth. Zero stickiness or indication that this is a huge beer.

Possibly the best English sweet/milk stout I’ve ever had, though that’s probably an unfair comparison.

Had on tap. Dark brownish black opaque body with a brown foam collar. Smell has sweet milk chocolate, dark chocolate, bourbon, black strap molasses, and vanilla. Taste is a clone of the smell, but the depth of the milky chocolate is richer, with the chocolate and vanilla being pushed into stardom by the bourbon. Creamy, lush, somewhat boozy, and just melts in your mouth.