Mother Night - Double Barrel
Barncat Artisan Ales

2019, still good rye solid

Got this from hopsolutely this past summer. Cheers!

From a 500ml bottle into a snifter
Imperial stout brewed with maple syrup aged in rye whisky barrels and port barrels

APPEARANCE: Clear black pour yields a one finger, fizzy, somewhat loser, tan head with okay retention. Noisy head quickly fizzes down to a faint wisp and ring. Clear black body with no visible carbonation evident. Only a ring remains leaving no lacing on the glass. Same as the whisky variant.

SMELL: Lots of boozy barrel aromas here. Lots of whisky and port barrel, with oak, vanilla, milk chocolate, with hints of maple syrup and butterscotch as well. The port gives it a slight dark fruit note as well. Big, bold and boozy.

TASTE: Whisky and port wine up front, with oak, vanilla and dark fruit sweetness, as well as a solid layer of alcohol moving into the swallow. Big and menacing. Bold finish of whisky, port wine, dark fruit and vanilla sweetness, milk chocolate, as well as some butterscotch and maple syrup character lingers nicely on the palate. Bold, sweet and boozy for sure. Tasty.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. Not quite creamy enough, a little foamy, goes down fine with bit of a burn and finishes somewhat sticky. Lots of heat lingers.

OVERALL: This is really good. It’s more to my liking than the single barrel version, though the maple syrup character is still pretty faint. The port barrels lend a wine and dark fruit sweetness to the party which I enjoy more than the whisky-maple mix that turns out a little minty in the whisky version. This one is certainly big and boozy, but the flavor profile is a treat to my sweet tooth. Thanks again, guys! Very enjoyable.

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of sweet chocolate notes with clear whisky and port barrel notes coming through with some residual sugar notes. Taste is also a mix of chocolate notes with some residual sugar with nice notes of whiskey and port bring additional balance and smoothness to the taste. Body is full with thick consistency and good carbonation with very light warming alcohol notes. Superb imperial stout with great balance and flavours.