Double Barrel Oak & Ember
Alesong Brewing & Blending

The beer pours a nice light brown head that dissipates quickly and leaves a ring of bubbles where the beer touches the glass. The beer itself is a very dark chocolate brown that looks delicious. The texture appears to be thick.

The smell contains a moderate bourbon note of leather and light vanilla. The sweet chocolate also comes out to mix with the bourbon notes. The oak lightly comes out in the finish.

The taste starts off with a leather bourbon note and light alcohol and oak note. The chocolate comes in a little later but then is later consumed by the bourbon in the finish.

The feel is good. It has a silky and smooth body with no carbonation. The body is heavy.

Overall, a good beer even though it's a bit bourbon heavy in the finish.

 

Poured from the bottle at Imperial taphouse in pdx. The beer pours the expected blackish brown color with pretty decent head retention and light lacing. On the nose, I'm picking up dark chocolate, coffee, and whiskey. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely, but with a bit more intensity. The beer is a bit on sweet side, but doesn't approach pastry stout territory. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, but with a long, soft, almost creamy finish. Alcohol is very well integrated into the flavor profile, with no sense that this is a 15% plus abv beer.

While nothing extraordinary, this is a very pleasant, easy to enjoy and appreciate ba, oatmeal stout.

Bottle via Tavour. Excited to finally try.
Understand it’s 15% and head development is not really expected. But this was a fizzy tan that immediately dissipated in my Uber Tavern snifter. No lacing, no surface foam; no halo. Just a glass of black.
Nose was very nice. Some roast; some vanilla, some oak and some dark fruits. Taste mirrored. Very nice blend of bourbon barrel and malt. Am a big fan of McKenna and even more so Craig…so the bourbon expression was pleasant and familiar. But not something remarkably special. Body was a rich full feel; not syrupy. But there was a bit a briskness that suggested higher abv played a bit of burn. Not bad; just a bit distracting. Overall I thought was a very nice BBA Imp stout. Glad I tried. But the significant assets of Oatmeal stout; dual (good quality) Bourbon barrels; patient aging and clearly good brewing…just didn’t provide a “wow”. Feel like I’ve been here before more than a few times. In some ways it took me back to Avery and Midnight Sun in the late 90’s/early ‘00’s. LOL. Maybe I’ve just been doing this too long.
Regardless…good job! Well done. Will look fwd to trying Alesong as often as possible.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a one finger khaki head with great retention and slippery solid lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, bourbon, light bakers chocolate, woody oak and oaky vanilla; boozy. Flavor is dark toasted malt, bourbon, oaky vanilla and bakers chocolate; bourbon finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. The base stout is noticeable here, but the barrel is the main story. Lots of bourbon in this one with some decent oaky vanilla and woodiness. Enjoyable, but I think the original was a little more balanced. At 15% and nice bourbon, there was still a lot to enjoy, but the ABV was a bit more noticeable.

Look - Pours a super dark black color with a nice brown head with larger than average bubbles. Head dissapears after a few minutes, except a ring around the beer on the glass.

Smell - Lots of bourbon and some oak. Smell is a bit too bourbon heavy for my personal liking.

Taste - Bourbon and oak. Again, too much for my personal liking, but perhaps ideal for 'bourbon-heads'?

Feel - I can feel the 15.3%ABV and to me it's a bit strong with the bourbon flavor.

Overall - Perhaps not a bad stout, but for me it had too much bourbon emphasis.