Bourbon Barrel Aged Raspberry Vlad (2017)
Hailstorm Brewing Co.

750 ml bottle into a snifter. Bottled 4/26/17, had 5/13/17.

Pours near black, opaque, with a short, foamy, quickly dissipating head and spotty lacing. Aromas of malt, raspberries, bourbon- more as it warms, vanilla, cocoa, some caramel, light oak and smoke. The taste follows along with malt, raspberries, bourbon, vanilla, oak, caramel, some molasses and chocolate. A light bitterness throughout. Smooth, a solid medium to full body, well carbonated.

This is at its best fully warmed. The bourbon and raspberries star in a well blended beer. Like all of the Vlad series, it’s well worth a purchase.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottled in April. Dark with a reddish twinge, good foam presence and persistent lacing. Smell is mostly raspberry. Taste is sweet raspberry first, backed by bourbon barrel, all over a roasty stout background. There's a mild alcohol presence, but nothing that makes me think 14% abv. A good beer, but I'm wondering if I had let this age a bit longer that the raspberry would be tamer and it would be more balanced.

 

L: Fairly aggressive pour which produced a tightly bubbled quarter inch head, that disapated quickly. Typical dark stout look, black in color with some ruby tint. Lot of sediment hanging around in this.

S: Very sweet raspberry and jam smells from this one.

T: Just as expected, overly sweet for my liking. Comparable in sweetness to Lizard Of Koz, imo. Raspberry is definitely present in this one, so much that it is all I get. Raspberry quik flavor. Slight bourbon and don't really get the base beer at all.

F: Syrupy, sticky feel.

O: If you're a sweet stout lover that enjoys raspberry, this one is for you. Reminiscent of lizard of koz, but raspberry.

 

Had on tap. The smell reminds me of a raspberry dark chocolate liqueur, with bourbon and molasses complimenting. Sweet raspberry and dark chocolate lead, nice bourbon warmth but the barrel is pretty faint. A rich dessert stout, thick, viscous and boozy without being artificial. The wife loved it

L: Nice dark thick looking stout. Head quickly disappears.
S: Chocolate covered raspberries and a hint of barrel.
T: Rich roast chocolate and sweet raspberries. Very slight barrel and alcohol on the taste.
F: Nice and thick, sticky and lingers for a while.
O: This is one of their best efforts. If they keep this up they will be producing some wonderful beers in the future.

Fizzy black with a creamy tan uneven bubbly head.

On the nose is sweet raspberry jam all the way, with some sticky dark chocolate syrup, with the same translating in taste, except that it is much boozier than expected.