Chocolate By The Barrel Cream Stout
O'Fallon Brewery

 

 

22oz bottle thats been waiting in the cellar for a couple of years poured into a New Belgium globe.

A - Pours a deep brown to black color with decent clarity, two fingers of frothy dark tan head head with good staying power and leaving behind some foamy lacing.

S - Smells like an infection is starting to take hold of this one...sour cherries, tart, acetic and lactic, chocolate.

T - Tobacco, leather, chocolate, tart cherries. Definitely showing signs of infection in the taste as well. No sign of bourbon at all. Still tastes decent, but not really as it was intended, I would suspect.

M - Thin, tart, foamy medium carbonation...infected.

O - Overall tart...still tastes ok, but just different from the intention of the brewer. Too bad, waited a bit too long on this one to really get a good impression.

 

Bottle: Poured a clear dark color stout with a semi-large light brown foamy head with good retention and light lacing. Aroma of light tart notes with vanilla and roasted malt. Taste is also a weird mix between light vanilla and bourbon with notes of roasted malt. Body is a bit thin with good carbonation and no apparent alcohol. There is something weird with this one with bizarre notes tart notes with the bourbon being not too well integrated.

Large capped bottle poured into a snifter.

Very dark brown, dark tan head, nice lacing and retention.
The overall aroma and flavors are very nice, and this is very easy to drink, although I would have liked both aroma and flavors to be somewhat more pronounced.
Obviously, chocolate plays a center role on both, along with some coffee, vanilla, but really not much of alcohol, oakiness or hops to be noticed.
A little bit more in your face, this would have been great. Very nice as it is.

Poured into a snifter. Big thanks to mikedashg for this treat. This opened with a bang. There's certainly no lack of carbonation. First pour yielded 90% head.

2.5 A: Black color. Big fizzy light brown head degrades quickly to look like dish soap suds then further to nothing but dish soap lacing. One of the worst looking stouts I've ever seen.

4.0 S: Smells a hell of a lot better than it looks. Good balance among the aromas with bourbon, cocoa, vanilla, and roastiness. Touch of lactose sourness to round things out. Pretty good.

4.0 T: The lactose component is most dominant in the taste, which took a few sips to get used to. After those few sips, it turns out being quite pleasant. Bourbon plays a complementary role, with oak, leather, and vanilla accompanying. Cocoa is there again in moderate amounts. Mild roastiness. Overall, pretty good.

4.0 M: Lighter medium body. Carbonation is a bit aggressive, but not too out of line. Good creaminess and smooth.

4.5 D: Pretty good beer. Isn't dominated by the bourbon, which is crucial for me to have a good experience with it. Other than the appearance, there are no major flaws and everything is at a minimum good.

Got this one awhile back not sure who sent it.

A: Pours a very dark black with a very fizzy head. Good retention and some nice lace.

S: Simple aromas very roasty with notes of chocolate and very light vanilla.

T: Very sharp up front. Not sure if we are dealing with light infection or very over roasted malt. As it heats even more the sharpness subsides a bit. Very roasty with lots of bitter chocolate and a touch of char.

M: Fizzy, the beer looks and tastes overly fizzy. I am guessing infection here.

D: Not really. It got better as it warmed. I think it was off, at least I hope it was.

Big Thanks to Draught2012 for providing this in one of our trades. Great Guy, Great Trader.

Pours with a thick dark tan head that shows some retention, but then immediately falls to a thin film of foam. The beer is extremely dark brown, but not black. Light does get in all around the edges. No lacing to speak of.

Aroma is a touch musty, slight cocoa and a touch of vanilla. Mostly musty though.

My initial thought on the flavor is that it's a bit thin. Cocoa powder for sure. Not really any bourbon to speak of. A moment of depth from what I perceive to be the barrel aging, but not too much. You can taste the sweetness from the lactose.

Body is frankly too thin and doesn't compliment the flavor profile.

This is ok, but nothing to exciting. Frankly anytime you get to have a single release Bourbon Barrel Aged stout, you expect something special. This really isn't special.

Sorry.

22oz bottle, poured straight out of the 50F cellar.

A: poured out jet black with a tan head. head faded quickly.

S: smells of roasted malt, coffee, hints of chocolate, vanilla. i dont get much bourbon. as it warms i do get a little more bourbon and a cocoa in the nose.

T: it is somewhat sweet. i get coffee and chocolate, and roasted malt. there are hints of vanilla. i dont get much in the way of bourbon, there is a slight booziness in the finish that has hints of bourbon.

M: it is thinner than i would have liked. mouthfeel is thin to medium. the carbonation is low, which i like.

D: it is very smooth and quite drinkable. it is not a bad beer at all, i was just hoping for a little more bourbon punch. maybe i dont get much bourbon since i just had a glass of scotch. who knows.

bomber aquired in latest with ottovon...after a battle with the wax poured this into a tulip at about sixty degrees

a-black with no highlights...two finger khaki head that stuck around for a while....leaves some lacing....lots of bubbles

s-sweet cocoa and smooth bourbon up front...has they typical sweet stout under the aforementioned components...has a bit of a dry coffee note in the finish

t-roastiness and cocoa start this off...the faintest hint of coffee moves in before a blast of bourbon hits in the middle...sweet malt and sugary taste slide in before that dry coffee i noticed in the nose finishes this out..

m-a tad thin for even with the abv...a minor complaint...the bourbon really hits the mouth with a blast...and carbonation is not over the top as with some low abv beers...if not for the thinness i wouldnt have docked it so low..

d-off the charts will have no problem making way through this bomber...almost everything sits right with this one

big shout out to ricky for this one...this is a damn fine brew...would love to get another if given the opportunity..

22oz waxed bomber courtesy of monsterfat!

Poured into a snifter, we get a large head that lingers quite a while. Very opaque pour.

Smell is dusted cocoa, vanilla and the tiniest semblance of bourbon. Bits of coffee flavor and some sweets.

Taste is similar but this beer is too fizzy for me. Way too much carbonation for me. I'm picking up quite a bit of cocoa, not so much cream.

This is probably about as good as an O'Fallon beer can get... which is merely good, not great.

Poured from the bottle a deep mahogany tone with a wet and thin light tan head.

Aroma of dark berries, molasses, raisins, and a touch of cocoa.

Tastes much like the aroma. Dark berries, cocoa, raisins, molasses, and vanilla.

Thin bodied and lightly carbonated.

Much thinner mouthfeel and less chocolate taste than expected. Not bad by any means, but could be better.

22 oz bomber not aged at the home cellar at all, should be fairly fresh. Pours a very dark brown color with very little clarity and a small tan foam that fades at an average clip, leaving some nice lacing behind.

Nose is, not surprisingly, bittersweet chocolate with a touch of roasty, bourbon-esque heat. Oak, cocoa, pineapple and starfruit also make it to the aroma party, as well as a hint of doughy yeast. One of the best smelling beers I've had recently.

Cookies and cream maltiness with a bit of roasty, dark malts and a definite oak presence. Could be classified as thin bodied, but I think that the low 5.5% ABV is a refreshing take on a barrel aged stout. Still could use a bit more of a creamy mouthfeel. Has a ton of flavor though, and a pretty unique offering. Chocolate is not quite as prevalent in the flavor as the nose (or label) suggests. O'Fallon has a good beer on their hands here.

Joel. You rock.

Poured a deep brown with good carbonatio and a tannish head. Nose is cocoa powder, roasted malts, choco malt. Taste is cocoa, light bourbon, roasted malt but no coffee and not as creamy as I expected. I also wish the the chocolate could have been more, perhaps in the form of cocoa powder and bitter chocolate. I deteced zero coffee. Mouthfeel is thinner and less creamy than I expected, not as warming or creamy as I expected from a bourbon barrell, cream stout but hey the ABV is light.

A - pours black with a very small head

S - bourbon, with some dark chocolates. Smells pretty good

T - taste follows the nose to a "T." Some bourbon is up front, which is followed by some dark chocolates. I like how the bourbon is there, but not overpowering as it can be in other bourbon barrel stouts. The flavors outside of the bourbon were pretty subtle, making this a on okay stout.

M - the mouthfeel is rather thin and watery. I wish it was more full.

D - This was a decent stout. This was the second time I have had this, and this was a lot better than the first time I remembered it. I don't know if I would justify spending $13 on it again, however I am glad I tried it. Something was missing in this, and I can't put my finger on it.

Unfortunately, the latest Beeradvocate crash wiped my account temporarily, but permanently lost my last 5 or 6 reviews. So this is the abbreviated version, but never fear--I still remember the ratings I gave the beer.

22oz creme-waxed bomber courtesy of Sean9689. Thanks man!

Pours a jet black body with a dark brown head that retains well. Very attractive beer. Smell is slightly weaker than I'd hoped, with some sweetness from cream and a dusting of dark cocoa.

Flavor is lots of Baker's chocolate, mocha coffee, and a hint of sweetness. Some beefy smoke from the barrel-aging, but not much in the way of Bourbon. Creamy body, but thin overall and falls flat for the style. Still, a good Milk/Cream Stout, but doesn't quite live up to the exuberant name.

Poured from the 22 fl oz. bottle into a pint glass.

This one called out to me from the Hy-Vee beer section. Sitting there, mocking me with its promises of bourbon barrel flavored chocolate and cream flavored stoutness. So I bought it despite the twelve dollar price tag, which I feel is too high for what I got.

The pour is mediocre, only a finger worth of head that dissipated quicker than my interest did in Fox's programming tonight when I discovered House wasn't on. Fortunately there's lacing on the glass that continues to form as I drink, which helps the appearance score. Chocolate by the Barrel Cream Stout is dark, so dark you can't see through it. I like that quality in beer. The smell of this is really cool, the alcohol hits you in the face - it smells like bourbon! There's also a quality of chocolate and vanilla to the smell, I'm not getting any coffee, which is common in stouts. It's all about the bourbon in this beer. Which is what it taste like as well, bourbon. I appreciate the flavor and I love it when it's balanced, but this is not a balanced beer. There's a scant taste of chocolate and a scant taste of the vanilla, but it's all about the bourbon. Instead of being called Chocolate by the Barrel Cream Stout, it should be called Bourbon by the Bourbon Bourbon Stout. This is why I say the price tag is too high, it's too unbalanced to justify the price for a bottle of this size. If it was balanced I would have gladly paid this, but eh. The good thing is, even though it's not balanced it's at least not terrible, it's just not what you'd think it would be by say, reading the label.

22 oz bottle with a cream colored wax seal. Poured into a pub glass, a medium mocha tan head recedes quickly. Thin strings of lace stick to the glass. Color is a solid chocolate brown, with lighter brown highlights arouned the edges.

Smell is mostly bourbon heat with some vanilla notes. Acidic coffee flavor is strong up front and a dry cocoa slides into the finish. Bourbon is a little heavy handed. The sweetness from the lactose sugars have to work really hard to compete oaky bourbon.

Mouthfeel has a nice creamy texture. Not as thick and chewy as some milk stouts, but filling enough. This is a nice one-off, but not one I would pursue on a regular basis. Give it a shot.

Pours an effervescent ebony with 2 fingers f mocha head. Very good lacing & average head retention

S: Faint dark chocolate & cocoa & sour mash once warm

T: Cocoa, a touch of leafy hops & coffee, plus some vanilla & oak up front. Vanilla & oakyness, slight hop bitterness as this warms, plus bourbon notes/sourness. Finishes dryish, with sourmash, cocoa & vanilla

MF: Medium bodied with low carbonation, fairly creamy & smooth, plus a bit of warming sensation

Drinks fairly easy, not as big as I was hoping & a bit overpriced at $11 a bomber, but still a good effort from O'Fallon. They need to continue this & drop the price. Let this one warm up quite a bit, just got better as it did