Cryptid - Bourbon Barrel Aged
Coppertail Brewing Co.

Bottle aged approximately three years. This was an above average straight barrel aged stout. All the aromas and flavors you'd expect from an aged BBA stout were present, dark fruits, charred wood, bourbon, roasty notes. Mouthfeel a little thinner than expected. Nothing worth going out of your way to find at this point, but still drinking very well.

Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. Purchased on 3/8/17 at the brewery during Tampa Bay Beer Week. Consumed on 1/6/18. Poured from the 750 mL bottle into an El Catador Barrel-Aged glass.

A: Very dark brown, essentially opaque. Forms a half-finger of tan head lasts decently well. Only a minimum of visible carbonation, but this is very thick looking.

S: Bourbon, chocolate, and roasted malts. Tobacco, caramel, vanilla, and a touch of oak. Nice aroma overall, albeit not a huge nose on this one. But a good balance of barrel and beer.

T: Chocolate, then a kick of bourbon. Caramel, vanilla, and sweet malts with mild roast bitterness. Mild tobacco, toffee, and then more cacao. Some lingering bourbon sweetness with the malts.

M: The mouthfeel seems about average – maybe a touch thicker than the base beer. The alcohol presence is modest, again with a nice barrel balance. Carbonation sensation is average for style.

O: A good beer, as was the base. Unfortunately, the barrel-aged version lost some of the big roasty bitterness/European aspects I enjoyed from the base. It gained a bit in the body, and a smoother flavor, but became more indistinguishable from the myriad of well-made barrel-aged Russian Imperial Stouts available these days. Which is a heck of a statement for what we as a beer drinking community have available these days. But this isn’t something I’d seek out again for that reason - it just blends into the crowd.