Barrel-Aged Root Beer Milk Stout
Russell Brewing Company

Russell Brewing 'BA Root Beer Milk Stout' @ 8.0% , served from a 650 ml bottle purchased for $10
A-pour is a dark cola brown from the bottle to a near black in the glass with a medium tan head leaving a fine spotty lace along the pint
S-whiskey bourbon , especially on the initial taste
T- boozey milk/sweet stout , hints of root beer on the swallow
MF-ok carbonation , medium body
Ov-kinda like the BA version better
prost LampertLand

 

650ml bottle, a bit of a surprise to find today after seeing the regular root beer milk stout a number of months ago. Aged in 'Woodinville Whiskey Bourbon Barrels' (again, sigh). Also the 'pallet' that this product arrived on was not exactly all that impressive nor memorable, just sayin'.

This beer pours a solid black abyss, with the scantest of amber basal edges, and four fingers of puffy, finely foamy, and creamy brown head, which leaves some random grotto profile lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

It smells of earthy and sort of musty sassafras, further sweet root beer essences (brown sugar?), subtle oaken notes (more wet wood than any vanilla or rye graininess), black licorice, sour milk, and rather understated caramel malt tones. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, a hint of bittersweet chocolate, root beer syrup, spicy anise, very mild generic whiskey stave essences (alcohol and spice), weak cafe-au-lait, and some ethereal earthy and weedy hop bitterness.

The carbonation is fairly tame in its lulling frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and quite smooth, with a nice airy creaminess seemingly part of the scenery here. It finishes off-dry, the root beer character sort of sloughing off any notions of lingering oakiness.

Overall, given that this only spent 60 days in the wood, more or less explains the underwhelming barrel character on display here. There is just enough to know that it's there, but the root beer and milk stout base doesn't seem all that affected by it. Still good, and with a well-integrated 16-proof booziness, so if you liked the first one, give this one a shot, if only just for shits and giggles.