Milwaukee County Stout Russel's Reserve Bourbon Barrel
The Explorium Brewpub

12 oz can stamped Black Friday into a tulip glass.
L: Pours jet black with a fast receding dark tan head, light carbo, head goes to edge foam, light sticky complex lacing.
S: Bourbon, dark chocolate, prunes, dates, moist dinkelbrot, a woody barrel note.
T: Taste follows aroma plus it is sweet, light barrel char, coconut, vanilla, rich fudge brownies, caramel malts, wood, molasses, raisins, it is full flavored.
F: Smooth, creamy, slightly oily heavy-bodied mouthfeel with a silky smooth long and slightly dry finish.
O: Lactose makes this beer incredibly smooth. I like it. 65 IBU and 1.130 gravity. It's quite heavy and the flavors are rich and aren't overly complex but at the same time aren't simple. Choco & barrel notes are 60% of the overall taste otherwise it is well balanced and doesn't morph like crazy over time. It's a sipper that is excellent.

 

Black Friday 2022 - Russell’s Reserve barrel - Aman’s store pick - Cheers Tom & Larry!

Jet black, mocha foam, minimal lace.

Aroma is fudgy brownie crust, bourbon soaked oak, vanilla, boozy.

Rich flavors, salted caramel chocolates, vanilla, brownie crust, butter, bitter bakers chocolate, mild bitterness of blackened malt.

Full bodied, viscous and creamy, bittersweet, drying finish, sticky on the lips. Carb is unobtrusive.

Nice late winter sipper, and an admirable BA imperial stout.

 

Sky Blue (Know Creek Barrel-Aged); canned on 11/4/21; consumed on 1/10/22

Pours a viscous, motor-oil black body topped with two fingers of dense, almost spongy, hazelnut-hued foam; solid head retention leaves a half-finger of creamy cap, a moderate, frothy collar, and thick, webby lacing lining the walls of the glass.

Aroma highlights nutty cacao nibs and dark cherry into Cracker Jack toffee and evolving bakers chocolate, dark fruit esters lingering into burnt sugar over the middle as light barrel and bourbon-imbued caramel come through on the back end.

Taste opens with impressions of soft plum and dark cherry as a resounding bakers chocolate builds to oak barrel and an increasingly steadied malt roast on the mid-palate; burnt toffee welcomes the balancing sensations of milk chocolate on the back end, while bourbon char lingering delicately on the finish.

Mouthfeel brings a medium body flirting with the thinner side and sporting minimal carbonation as a fluffy slickness develops into the mid-palate, briefly peaking to pillowy roast textures and resuming with a silky back end toward the close.

A balanced impression of dark fruits and nutty cacao are carefully bolstered by the finer nuances of the Knob Creek barrel in use, a cohesive flow of malt textures forming an understated whole; comprehensively enjoyable.