Eagle Stout
Powderhaus Brewing Company

Grunt fill from Albertsons. Dark brown, really dark, creamy beige head. Aroma is milk chocolate and roast grains, hint of booze. Taste comes on strong. Sweet milk notes, chocolate, coffee and boozy notes from the barrel. Wasn't prepared for this, much, much better than anticipated.

 

been wanting to try this one for awhile now, but it was hardly worth the wait, super boozy, even sloppy in that way, fusel and a little gross, burning on the palate and on the way down, not as mature as it seems like it should be, perhaps even cheap tasting, although im sure its not inexpensive to produce. its flat too which doesnt help, no head from the tap after a minute in the glass, looks murky and almost greasy, more brown than black, just odd. the nose is the worst parts of bourbon, the corny sweetness and the burn, not as woody as anticipated and without the nuanced richness. the malt is a little one dimensional, could use more low end roasted bitterness to counter some of the middle chocolate and caramel decadence, but this could also be fermented a lot drier, the residual sugar is off the charts. the flavor has a light cola note, raw cocoa, milk chocolate, and toffee. alcohol is overpowering, especially without it really having enough body to support it all, and its also got some oxidation, im not sure things went super well in the barrel here overall, this really lacks refinement. almost totally flat, a cardboard and brown sugar aftertaste, i wanted a whole lot more from this. things have fallen back a bit over here recently in my opinion, did not love anything that we had on our visit last weekend, some decent, but a couple like this, just off. disappointing...

edit: significantly better from the bottle, but still not what it should be. tons of bourbon on it which is nice, no denying that, but its almost astringent too from all the barrel, thin and lighter than a stout like this should be, so the alcohol is exposed along with more sugar than it needs. to me in a lot of ways this drinks like barleywine, and i like it better when i think about it like that. way way better than on tap at the brewery this fall, but still a far cry from where it should be. improving scores slightly to factor in the bottle experience. super alcoholic.