Black Forest Imperial Stout - Barrel-Aged
Cloudwater Brew Co.

 

 

L: Dark black, maybe a little reddish around the edges. Almost no head. Even a vigorous pour yielded less head than my prom date.
S: Really good, mostly cherries and chocolate. Not really much from the bourbon in the smell.
T: Very good. Again, cherries and chocolate, very little else. A little bit of sweetness and oakiness from the bourbon.
F: Extremely thin for a barrel aged stout. Not necessarily a negative though, it makes the beer extremely drinkable for a barrel aged stout.
O: It's really hard to rate this, because it defies expectations so much. They used the barrel to accentuate the chocolate and cherry flavors without overpowering them, and it's almost hard to tell it's barrel aged. American bourbon BA stouts are usually thick and viscous, with a lot of oak flavor and bourbon heat, and the base stouts usually have a lot stronger roasted malt flavor. But this really does taste like a black forest cake - chocolate and cherry - rather than a thick, fudgy, bourbony stout that someone dumped a little cherry juice into.

Final verdict: I enjoyed it and would definitely drink it again. But it was pretty damn expensive, and I have definitely had better value in other BA stouts.

Really solid, but not overly impressed compared to the wakefield stouts I was drinking. Full bodied, but not super thick or fudgy. Cherry isn't in your face which is nice.