Bourbon Barrel Aged Porter
Big Rock Brewery

poured from a 650ml bottle
cola looking beer
smell of big sweet bourbon, bit of dark fruit, very nice
taste same with big bourbon sweetness, vanilla,
feel is very lite, low carbonation
overall very enjoyable sipping beer

 

650ml bomber poured into tulip 21/4/16

A clear cola where you can almost see the other side under the finger of tan foam that hangs around for a few sips leaving a couple partial rings

S I get the sweet bourbon but not much barrel other than some faint charred wood, vanilla, cocoa and bakers chocolate, maple and sugar coated raisins, licorice and root beer, a hint of booze, over-ripe dark fruit and some molasses, smells darn good

T has some earthy chocolate notes that are stronger then the nose, still lots of sweet bourbon but not much barrel itself, more booze then the nose and the intensity's not at the same level but still very tasty

M not as thick as I'd guess for the strength, soft from the bubbles, has some tannin like grit, a little heat but fairly mellow, sweet bourbon and chocolate finish

O mellow, lighter for a bigger beer but still has some body with plenty going on, great nose and nothing worth complaining about

I gotta admit that Big Rock has actually earned a little respect from me as of late, 3 beers in a row that I'd spend money on twice? I'm beginning to think the first two were no fluke after another winner, I'd love to see this trend continue.

650ml bottle, a different brew (first, it's a porter) than the Bourbon entry in Big Rock's mixed barrel-aged gift pack from late 2014.

This beer pours a clear, dark cola brown colour, with one chubby finger of puffy, loosely foamy, and eventually bubbly tan head, which leaves a few instances of cannonball splash lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of pleasantly saccharine Mars Bars (milk chocolate and nougat, predominately), further grainy, and faintly roasted caramel malt, restrained Kentucky barrel notes - vanilla and a wan rye spiciness - subtle black licorice candy, a wavering dark orchard fruitiness, and very timid earthy and weedy hops. The taste is still rather sweet, as the cocoa and cafe-au-lait stricken caramel/toffee malt continue to run the show, the understated Bourbon character (vanilla and wet wood, mostly) falls further out of scope, some Mediterranean-adjacent black fruitiness idles along, and that heretofore underwhelming earthy, leafy, and perfumed floral hoppiness shows the only sign of the purported north of 20-proof booze.

The bubbles are fairly benign in their simple and disengaging frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and actually quite smooth, with a nice airy creaminess availing itself from the get-go. It finishes bordering on full sweetness, with only a sense of the used barrel and ethereal alcohol keeping this one from the tongue scraping hall of infamy.

Overall, a sort of kid-gloves treatment of this big-boy style - the Bourbon whiskey notes are very low-key, yet that also means that the elevated ABV is somehow damned-near invisible. At any rate, if you could call a barrel-aged large brew like this a starter or gateway version, this would be your evidence when ducking out of the way.