Big Bang - Knob Creek Barrel-Aged
Barreled Souls Brewing Company

This one pours a light amber-brownish color, with a very small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like honey, caramel, bourbon, molasses, oak spice, and leather.

The intense barrel character definitely hides the American characteristics of this beer in a great way. There’s no hop character – just waves of luscious vanilla, caramel, and oak, with lighter notes of honey, molasses, and some herbal and leathery notes as well.

This is medium bodied, with very little booziness, despite the style.

I can almost always expect beers of this level from Barreled Souls, and that’s why they’re one of my favorite breweries.

Sampling a 500 ml bottle poured into my snifter at slightly below cellar temp. Bottle is #518/2022 and was bottled on 04/29/2022. Picked up at the brewery in October 2022 and in my cellar until today ( March 5 2023).

The beer pours a dark rich mahogany color with a fizzy khaki colored head of 1.5 cm. This foam fades to a sturdy edge layer soon after the pour. There is actually a lot of suspended sediment in the glass when I hold it to a light source. Interesting.
The aroma on this is bourbon forward and hints of booze. I also get figs and brown sugar and a bit of dry wood note buried under the sweeter malt character. No noticeable hop character at this point.
First sip reveals a sticky texture and medium to full body. The carbonation is very fine and prickly on my tongue. Flavor is malt forward and bourbon soaked again. I get figs, raisin and brown sugar covered with some bourbon notes and some light hints of vanilla in the background.
No booze here, bitey or warmth, well hidden ABV, which will probably hit me when I stand up from the table after typing this review!
This beer is what you would expect it to be as a bourbon barrel aged barleywine. I am starting to think I need to dig into bourbons more to see if I can get nuances between brands/varieties.