Ada County
Woodland Empire Ale Craft

This one pours a very dark black, inky looking pour - with a fluffy tight head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like rich dark fruit, roast, tobacco, oak, rum spice, chocolate fudge, fruity cold brew coffee, and red wine.

This has a prett big and burly sweetness to it, but it's not cloying. It's absolutely loaded with dark fruit and roast - it almost feels European in stout execution. The coffee adds some chocolate and cherry, and the chocolate also seems to add some dark fruitiness, along with fudginess, obviously. I don't get much whiskey, as the two barrels go - just caramel and rum spice. There's definitely oak, char, and tobacco darkness. It does help to counter the fruity sweetness. This is extremely complex.

This is a very slow sipper, due to the latent booze, fruity sweetness, and just general heaviness. There's a lower level of carbonation, and a pretty thick and creamy mouthfeel.

This is unique, and fairly complex. I'm glad to have tried my first beer from Woodland Empire.

 

1785
Ada County Stout
Woodland Empire
Barrel Aged Stout
ABV: 14%
Date: 01/20/2022
I picked this beer up from a fellow beer lover. I ensured the beer was kept in ideal conditions. I warmed the beer up to 50 degrees and served it in a tulip glass. The pour created a frothy and airy two-fingered head. The retention is excellent, leaving chunks of lacing on the glass. Dark brown liked heavily used motor oil, nearly black charting around SRM 38. The appearance of this beer is above average.
The first aromas that pop out are dark roasted coffee, chocolate, and whiskey. Nosing the glass further, I detect oak, raisins, caramel, toffee, toasty bread crust, hints of char, and a campfire. The stout has a slight meaty note, like soy sauce but is hard to identify.
The whiskey barrels permeate the beer well, giving the alcohol, oranges, oak, and char notes. Sipping the beer, I noticed it was sweeter than I would anticipate from a stout. Coffee, chocolate, bread crust, toffee, caramel, molasses, cereal grains, and a touch of soy sauce round out the rest of the flavors.
The mouthfeel is chewy with low carbonation. The body is heavy and finishes smooth and long.
This is the middle of the road for me as imperial stouts go. I am not a fan of the sweeter BBA. I like pastry stout, but this was not close to that style. The high ABV was not noticeable.

2022 vintage poured from a pint can. Moderately thick but not excessively syrupy, with a full finger of head that slowly emerges and builds. Plenty of retained lacing. The 2022 can does not mention rum barrels, so I'm unsure if that was involved this time. Vinous and dry on the palate, with plenty of bitterness from raw cacao and the coffee. Both additives lend accents but without overpowering the base and barrel treatment; I get the flavors but would still believe you if you told me it was just a barrel-aged stout. The aroma is muted but the flavors on the palate are quite intense. Some bright acidity that is not super common in stouts like this, with plenty of dark stonefruit and grape.

2017 vintage. Poured from a 12 oz bottle into a Dogfish Head tulip

L: Inky black pour. Half a finger of mocha colored head leaves a nice ring of lacing.

S: Rich and roasty. Booze, whiskey, vanilla, coffee, and cocoa.

T.F: Just like it smells. Rich... semi-sweet chocolate, vanilla, whiskey, and oak. Roast, espresso, and burned sugars. Rum! and some dark fruit (from the Brett? definitely not sour). A bit of booze but hides its ABV. Silky smooth... lower carbonation and medium to think bodied. Oily... complex and warming. Better as it comes up to room temperature.

O: An elite barrel-aged stout. Outstanding flavor and really picks up on the barrels. Compares to a Bourbon County and may even be better. One worth seeking out.

 

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a quarter finger high tan colored head that died down a bit but never completely faded away.
S: Light to moderate aromas of whiskey are present in the nose along with notes of rum and cocoa with hints of coffee.
T: The taste follows the smell but has stronger flavors of whiskey and rum with underlying notes of cocoa and hints of coffee.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied and very smooth on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation. There is some warming in the finish from the whiskey and rum.
O: You can definitely get the sense that this beer is strong from the whiskey and rum but the cocoa and coffee help to mellow out the taste to some degree so it's not that alcoholic.

Serving type: can

A-Looks like a big bold stout, also with prodigious khaki head that persisted quite long for the high ABV.
S-caramel, coffee, rye barrel
T-Above average sweet even for the style. Overly rich chocolate, some coffee and the rye barrel is more present than the bourbon. Maybe a little dark fruit sweetness and licorice on the aftertaste. Some char bitterness helps to slightly offset the nearly cloying sweet.
M-Best part of the beer. Full body, viscous and chewy. The 15% ABV heat is there with some astringency, but not as boozy as you might expect.
O-Very different barrel notes, but a bit over the top with the massive amounts of chocolate and coffee otherwise its taste score would have been higher.

Dug into the cellar to pop a 12oz bottle from 2017. Poured into a Surly snifter.

A: Opaque black with a small ring of khaki head.

S: Strong barrel and spirt character, with notes of toffee and vanilla, cacao, coffee, oak, roasted malt. There is a sweetness and just a touch of a snappy astringency; not sure if that is the alcohol or the wild yeast this was brewed with.

T: Follows the nose beautifully with that toffee-like sweetness from the barrels blending into a smooth cocoa-y caramel; mild char and present roastiness throughout, and a minor snappy dark fruitiness, which isn't distracting. Alcohol warmth gives you the impression of booze but it isn't 'hot'. Dark and rich; well-rounded at this age!

MF: Full-bodied and strong.

O: I always pass over this one when pulling bottles out of the cellar to try; the Brettanomyces addition scared the heck outa me. But this has come together marvelously and maintains a strong barrel profile, present sweetness, and good roasty character. At 15%, its somewhat boozy still, but not too hot. This is really good.

 

15 August 2020 - Beer #165

Price: $9.99 on Tavour

Appearance: 5 - poured a beautiful, thick, frothy black.

Nose: 4 - does not smell like a stout; it's more like a fruity barleywine. It's either the rum or there's something wrong with it.

Taste: 4 - it's the rum. It's pretty darn tasty, but there's just not a whole lot of it. The flavor is very good, it's just mild.

Mouth: 5 - fantastic work here. As on the pour, it's extremely frothy and chewy. Well done.

Overall: 4 - a very fine BA stout from flyover country.

Cheers!