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Living Waters Brewing

my first from living waters, a heck of an introduction here, a barrel aged stout long in buffalo trace and eagle rare barrels with some heady coffee. super cool presentation, waxed black frosted glass bottle, neat label, these look great. the beer is dark dark brown, not as viscous as some of these are, and flashing a quick half inch of creamy tan head that slowly settles back, high shine, looks yummy. the nose is unique, as sort of commonplace as barrel aged stouts with coffee are these days, this has some uniqueness. its not super roasty, like weirdly sort of mild there, more from the grain than the java but neither is too intense, lots of room for sticky tobacco and raisin, dry cocoa and hot chocolate, and a nuttier side of the coffee, almond and even hazelnut notes. the aroma and the flavor here are the same in this regard. the whiskey is strong to both senses too, vanilla notes from it, lots of oak, and plenty of sweetness and general richness the whole way, a higher quality bourbon character to me, heavy wood, char, even toasted coconut nuance, its awesome. to me the coffee is robust but its also not incredibly fresh, i get hints of that green pepper oxidation and some light acidity from it on the palate as well, which sort of cheapens this for me, maybe they should have added the coffee in after the barrel treatment, if they didnt do it that way, it just seems a little stale. its quality though, a lighter roast, deeply earthy and with some chocolate character of its own that compliments this clever malt bill really well, and with the bourbon washing over all of it, its really quite layered and delicious. impressive specimen here, a couple of little twists and tweaks away from perfection, a little thin in feel too, but its really solid, shows some real ambition, and the use of these barrels makes this special even if the coffee part is imperfect. neat beer, these guys seem cool!