Barrel Aged Coconut & Vanilla Bear
Werk Force Brewing Co

 

 

Wow, Werk Force has an amazing barrel program, stouts and sours. They have the medals to prove it. This beer is amazing, thick with great adjuncts. Great tasting room as well. If your ever in Plainfield, IL, this is the place to go.

 

16 ounce can into a snifter. 2021 edition, had 5/15/21.

Pours an opaque, dark brown with a half inch foamy head and some foamy cling. Aromas of vanilla, chocolate, malt, cocoa, some bourbon and coconut, light marshmallow. Flavors of vanilla, bourbon, chocolate, coconut, malt. Smooth, a very good full body, well carbonated.

Really good, but the overload of cacao nibs buries the barrels and coconut to some degree, although they both push through nicely in the flavor. The vanilla shows really well. In any event, this was very enjoyable.

O 4.0. 052219

If I could give two pieces of advice, they would be to let this warm up from the fridge to at least cellar temperature, and to slurp it unrepentantly. This gets so much better as it approaches room temp: the aromas start to blossom and the flavors get more complex, bringing out some of the coconut and barrel oak notes that are fairly muted otherwise.

Simply an underrated stout that is tasty in all of it's incarnations, this is no different. Lots of coconut and vanilla on the nose and palate. Definitely a bit boozy, but being barrel aged that is no surprise. Don't sleep on this Sleepy Bear, love it!

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing this beer did was a magic trick. A lot of fizzy tannish brown foam hit on the pour and disappeared pretty much instantaneously, leaving pretty much nothing residual behind. That’s okay, because it delivered in more ways than that. Smell is strong sweet vanilla with mild coconut over a warm boozy barrel undercurrent. Taste is magnificent-the vanilla and coconut meld with each other and mingle with the woody and alcoholic burn of the bourbon barrel. Surprisingly only medium bodied, really mouth watering, extremely mouth filling, and has a strong alcohol character. This bad boy is bold and flavorful and balanced and just an all around stellar beer. I recently tried Curvature by Phase Three and couldn’t figure out why people were chasing it. This beer, however, is worth hunting down. I’m going to have to keep an eye on Werk Force and see when they release more of this series. Damn!

 

22oz bottle poured into a tulip glass shows a light defying black body briefly floating a 1/8in disipating cap of cocoa colored foam leaving random tiny spots of lacing, at best.

Aromas of coconut, oak, vanilla, and sugar dominate with beneficial support from chocolate, booze, and an earthy sweetness I'll associate to honey.

The flavors match, with coconut and vanilla being more subtle. Very well blended; nothing dominates the flavor. Aftertaste is a nice blend of chocolate, rye, and honey.

Mouthfeel is full with just enough tongue-coating creaminess.

Overall a really well done BA imperial stout.

Workforce brewery came out of nowhere with this barrel aged stout.

Pours dark black with medium brown head.

Rich vanilla in the nose and flavor. Authentic as it gets. The vanilla just goes on for days and days. Hints of coconut hints of bourbon. This beer taste smooth and is smooth. Nice and thick. Not boozy at all.

This BA Stout has great adjuncts and drinks very well. Well done by Werk force brewing.

This was a return to the sleepy bear I remember having years ago! Great vanilla and coconut in the smell with rich belgian chocolate right behind with bourbon and wood. Taste is just as rich and full, with the combination tasting like a chocolate coconut ganache cake. There is a twinge of fruit here and there in the background with the barrel influences, but not enough to be distracting. Feel is creamy, smooth, but a little light.