Maple Bar Stout
Barbarian Brewing

 

Taster at Barbarian. Dark brown, thick pour. Sweet aroma of maple. Taste comes in with a nice toasty, sweet stout under the maple flavors, pretty good pastry beer.

Review 1599
Maple Bar Stout
Barbarian Brewing
Date: 2020
I was working downtown Boise, I was across the street from this brewery. Before my job finished, I went and bought some beer. The beer is 48 degrees and served in a Stout glass. The pour created a frothy and airy light tan head with excellent retention. The slow dissipation left a beautiful lacing on the glass. The color of the beer charts around SRM 26, dark brown with ruby hues. The beer is opaque. A delightful appearance.

The aromas in the beer are maple, chocolate, coffee, dark roasted malts, brown sugar, stone fruit, vanilla, earthy, oaky, bourbon, a hint of Maillard, a skosh of smoke, and bready.

The flavors in the beer are maple, chocolate, coffee, the off weird over cooked maltiness, stone fruit, vanilla, earthiness, oaky, bourbon, a touch of smoke, and floral esters.

The mouthfeel of the beer is coating and slightly astringent.

The body of the beer is somewhat heavy. low carbonation, and lingering unpleasant finish.

This beer did not age well. I take serious precautions with my beer and transporting and storing. The beer fell apart in the end. The maple flavoring tastes fake and chemical with an odd aftertaste. I do not care for this beer.

2019 vintage. this sounded so good to me, brewed with actual maple bars, aged in a variety of barrels, and spiked with additional maple syrup, i wish i had consumed it fresh instead of waiting until now, i think some of its best sides have faded in the time its been in the cellar, and i think there maybe a touch of an infection setting in, this is just a tad sharp to me, not quite astringent, but also thinning in feel, probably not at rich and decadent as it was when it came out, and the alcohol is starting to show through. its still thick looking in the glass, shiny deep brown, and frothy tan headed, looks nice. it smells and tastes good too, dont get me wrong, it just seems on the wrong side of time. i get maple in all my senses, natural enough, but also this is pastry-esque and sweet, with the neat dried fruit notes, obvious raisin to me it seems, but maybe dates and figs too, and some honey character with the maple, likely from the malt, definitely has a maple bar vibe to it, a granola sort of thing from the grain above the roasted part, and a beautiful espresso note on the low end too, complex and good, but too sweet to really drink, running a little bit acidic which kills it a little bit for me, but the flavors are nice and this is a cool beer, a little bourbon character to it, a hint of vanilla, lots of roast, not diabetic but sweet, very tasty though, i just hope they brew this up again this year so i can try it brand new. even though this is a tad off, barbarian remains one of the more exciting local operations here in boise...

500ml bottle (2019 vintage) poured into a snifter.

Dark brown pour that ends up opaque in the glass; large khaki head recedes to almost nothing. Boozy sweet maple and vanilla frosting on the nose, with strong sweet bourbon...impressions of charred oak and dark roast coffee as well. Sweet on the palate and leaning towards a burn, but manageable as it warms up and smooths out...big sweet bourbon and maple notes with impressions of an almost smoky vanilla. Not quite full-bodied cut by the sweetness.

2021 bottling; more brown sugar/caramel/molasses here, but overall the beer drinks and feels similar to previous years.