Bourbon Barrel Dirty Frank: Vanilla
River's Edge Brewing Co

22 ounce bottle into signature tulip glass, bottled on 3/4/2019. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 2 finger fairly dense and rocky khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of coconut, licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. A bit too fruity/yeasty aromas, but not overwhelming. Very slight touch of sour cherry note, maybe. A little infection only noticeable in the nose. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast/vanilla notes; with solid strength. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of coconut, licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, grassy, peppery, roast, char bitterness; and rye, bourbon, oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, dark bread/crust, licorice, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast/vanilla flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet, and bourbon/oak/rye spiciness balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness, rye/bourbon/oak spiciness, and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol or barrel booze for 6.7%. Overall this is a very nice barrel aged flavored export stout. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast/vanilla flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the modestly bitter/spicy/tannic/drying finish. Nicely soft and not overly bitter/charred. Balanced rich malts, and barrel presence/integration; with nice hop presence, and restrained fruity yeast. Mildly sweet with lingering crisp dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and well made English style example as expected. Feels like these recent variants were packaged prematurely from the carbonation. This was the only one that had a mild infection note, but was likely just the English yeast character. Was hoping for more vanilla presence, tastes like the base beer mostly.