Bourbon Barrel Dirty Frank Stout
River's Edge Brewing Co

22 ounce bottle into snifter, 2018 vintage bottling. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, spicy rye, nuts, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of smoke, char, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses; light-moderate earthy hops, bourbon barrels; and mild fruity yeast notes; with great strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, spicy rye, nuts, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of smoke, char, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate roast/char and herbal/spicy hop bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, spicy rye, nuts, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, dark/brown bread, light smoke/char, molasses, dark fruit, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses; light-moderate earthy hops, bourbon barrels; and mild fruity yeast flavors; with an awesome roast/hop bitter/sweet, and rye/oak spiciness balance; with no acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness and rye/bourbon/oak spiciness. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky/tannic balanced mouthfeel that is fantastic. Zero warming alcohol as expected of 6.7%. Overall this is a fantastic export stout! All around outstanding complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses; light-moderate earthy hops, bourbon barrels; and mild fruity yeast flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the mellowly bitter/spicy/tannic/drying finish. Very rich for the ABV. Great well rounded rich English malt complexity with added molasses; balancing English hops, barrel presence/integration, and mild fruity yeast notes. Identical to the base beer; with nice added barrel complexities. A bit more bitter/drying. Not a ton of barrel, but adequate. A highly enjoyable offering, and amazing style example as expected.