Black Maple
Jackie O's Taproom & Brewery

12 oz can canned 1/23/25 into a Jackie O's snifter.
L: Pours black with a thin off white head that recedes quickly to thin edge foam, light steady carbo, almost no lacing.
S: Chocolate, maple syrup, bourbon, more booze as the beer warms.
T: Sweet chocolate, Smoky barrel char, maple syrup, darkly roasted caramelized malts, toffee, malty finish.
F: Smooth medium to med-heavy bodied mouthfeel with a medium-long moderately dry finish.
O: Quite smooth, gently rich, mildly heavy, and chocolate provides a lot of flavor throughout. Malts shine through. The bourbon notes are subtle and are well-masked. It is not overly sweet even considering the maple syrup. It is luscious tasting and is outstanding in its style.

 

Sampling a cellar temp 500 ml bottle vintage 2018 from @Artizen. Thank you!
The beer is poured into my snifter and exhibits a cola brown color on the pour but becomes much darker in the glass. A fizzy beige head foams up less than 1 cm even with an aggressive pour, this quickly becomes a thin edge layering and nothing else.
The aroma is rich malty nose with brown sugar and maple syrup notes and not surprisingly bourbon too. Not boozy bourbon notes, mostly the sweeter hits. No hop presence on the nose.
the first sip reveals a medium to thick body and gentle and soft almost cask like carbonation. physically this beer is very easy to drink.
Flavor is sweet malt with brown sugar, maple notes, some molasses and a bit of bourbon. Again no hop presence but there is some black peppery biting alcohol flavor, but not any associated warming in mouth on belly.
This is a nice malt driven big beer that drinks easy and one that I find enjoyable. Well worth a shot if you are a malty.

 

 

 

 

A gift from @SomethingClever.
An undated 12.7 oz bottle stored at 42 degrees. Served at 50 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter.
Aroma – maple and a little bourbon. Lasts.
Head small (Maximum < one cm, aggressive pour), tan, frothy/fizzy, gone almost as soon as I quit pouring. All that remains is an irregular one to two mm ring fed by some slight effervescence and four tiny islands.
Lacing – none.
Body – dark brown/black, opaque, effervescent.
Flavor – Starts slightly sweet with bourbon and maple predominating. Perhaps a bit of chocolate malt? No trace of hops. No diacetyl. No alcohol until it hits the stomach, then some transitory gastric heat occurs. However, allowing it to warm in my mouth definitely brings out the alcohol, surpassing the maple which is much greater than the bourbon.
Palate – medium, creamy approaching syrupy, lively carbonation.
A tad sweet for my tastes but otherwise an excellent brew. The paucity of head and lacing is what I’ve come to expect from BBA brews and doesn’t detract from my appreciation of them. As a porter, this is a bit dense, definitely in the range of stouts but not imperial stouts - a worthy addition to the beer belly on which I’m working. Thanks Dave!
Appearance 4, Aroma 4.25, Flavor 4, Palate 4.25, Overall 4.25.