Okanagan Red Wine Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
Blindman Brewing

 

355ml can poured into tulip 4/5/17

a nearing black but looks like dark cola when held to the light, just a noisy finger of foam that leaves no lace

S cherry cola, cocoa powder, chocolate syrup, vanilla, some ashy notes stop short of char, fruity vinous notes are stronger then I'd guess

t tastes like a fruity chocolate bar, more ash, a little booze but well concealed for 22 proof, the wine barrel leaves its mark

M has weight but a little flat, tannin like grit in side but sticky on the lips, some heat but manageable

O the important aspects are there, tastes and smell good but the whole package falls short of its potential, don't get me wrong its solid stuff just not as well rounded as it could be

I'm curious to try the base beer before the barrel treatment, I like the barrel choice but perhaps the base could use some intensity? I sound like I'm being hard on it because I really did enjoy it but just felt like they were o the cusp of something special

I REALLY want to like this, but it's a miss in my books. There are definitely a few things on point - it looks and smells good. However, like a few things I've encountered that look and smell good, the whole package misses the mark. The mouthfeel is particularly alarming - numbing and akin to anesthetic. I would be interested to know how this ages - hopefully, it mellows with age.

355ml, kind of strangely labeled can, whose contents were aged in 'Cab Franc and Malbec Okanagan red wine barrels' for 401 days. Yowsers!

This beer pours a solid black abyss, with the barest of basal amber edges, and one finger of weakly puffy, broadly foamy, and well-bubbly brown head, which leaves a bit of streaky sea froth lace around the glass as things very slowly sink away.

It smells of semi-sweet caramel malt, bittersweet cocoa powder, some phenolic yeastiness, a muddled dark orchard fruitiness, tame wine barrel notes (lame vanilla and musty red grapes, for the most part), and some weak earthy, leafy, and herbal green hop bitters. The taste is bready and doughy caramel malt, some acrid red wine woody booziness (more vanilla, cherry, and wet stave character), subtle wet ash, damp medium chocolate wafers, subtle cafe-au-lait, and a sense of weedy, floral, and musty verdant hoppiness unrequited.

The carbonation is adequate in its palate-lifting frothiness, the body a solid medium weight, and mostly smooth, with a mostly airy creaminess trying to make hay where the sun don't shine, as such. It finishes off-dry, barely, as the vinous heat in this offering pushes things right down to the virtual floor.

Overall, this is kind of an underwhelming intro into this brewery's propensity for long-term aging prospects - the Canadian red wine character is certainly there, but not in the amount or degree that makes me want to cellar any more, as it just doesn't seem to pass the veritable muster test, age notwithstanding.