Bourbon Barrel Porter
Legend Brewing Co.

 

Legend Bourbon Barrel Porter, on tap at Black Moonday, Capital Ale House, downtown location, Richmond, VA. Served in a small tasting glass, a wine glass of sorts.

Appearance: An almost black brew with garnet peripheries, topped with a thin, half-finger, fast-fading, tan head that leaves a sticky ring of thin foam, a well-dispersed sheen, and a few blotches of glittery, runny dots of lacing. I've kind of gotten compressing the appearance of a beer down to one sentence. Hmm.

Aroma: Pretty simplistic, to be honest, though perfectly pleasant. Mainly comprised of toasty, neutral malts, flourishes of lighter roast, and a healthy dose of spicy, lightly wooded bourbon and vanilla.

Taste: Well toasted, though with a slightly dull sheen of bourbon. It's sweet, but also woody and spicy, with hints of coffee, faint chocolate, and maple syrup, as well. The bourbon proper doesn't come across as much as I'd like, I think.

Mouthfeel: Big bubbled, and perhaps not as thick as I'd have imagined, though reasonably even and well-bodied.

Drinkability: Not a bad brew at all, with a reasonable abv% for the style and - though can feel it and taste it - it comes across more as the imparted bourbon than the brew itself. A standard Legend brew more than anything else, though, and this one could be a lot more with a more solid underpinning.

My friend below, SinistrSam, and myself had the pleasure of tasting this at the brewery and were both extremely impressed with it.

On the tour, the Brewmaster told us that they were bourbon-aged only 3 months, and that each ABV percentage is usually a rule for how long it should age. Alas, the ABV is 6% he told us for the regular Porter, so it's cut in half, and who knows what 6 months would've done, or what it could do to the brew in the future.

Appearance: Fairly opaque with a rich mocha-colored head and good retention throughout.

Smell: The triumvirate of bourbon, vanilla, and the woodiness from the barrels is at the forefront, with burnt and roasted malt, caramel, brown sugar, cream, and dark berries. Pretty astounding.

Taste: Huge notes of vanilla and bourbon initially intermingling, subsiding to woodiness, dark coffee and chocolate flavors, cream, and finally some hops to round off and curb some of the sweetness. Balanced, huge, and complex.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied yet fairly smooth and creamy.

Drinkability: I'm a nut for good wood and bourbon aging, and this brew certainly is great for me. Does the bourbon aging add any alcohol or not? Either way, a lot of flavor and body with a lot of complexity. They should certainly bottle this; the limited supply is nowhere near enough. If you get to the brewery before it's gone, you should certainly try some.

Wow. I never really had my socks blown off by a Legend breww before, but this little gem was the exception to the rule.
I understand this was brewed only once, 3 barrels worth and tapped. Thats it. An experiment by the brewmaster that went horribly...right? This poured a fantastic down brown black, with a dark tan head.
The aroma was like a coffe milkshake; vanilla, cream, roasted malts, brown sugar, sweet dark fruits, caramel and choclate. Absolutely fantastic.
The taste was much of the same, with the deep dark and sometimes a little bitter roasts being balanced almsot perfectly by the sweet caramel, almost syrupy sweet bourbon flavor, vanilla, chocolate and maybe some honey?
The mouthfeel was once agian a great balance of bittersweetness fading into a great tongue-coating smoothness. Very full-bodied.
Overall, I think this was an absolutely fantastic beer. I could't be more impressed with Lengend, but couldn't have been mroe depressed when they told me they didn't bottle any of it. Maybe next year?