Gmork - Bourbon Barrel aged
Forest & Main - The Brewery

This one pours a very dark black color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like roasted malt, licorice, vanilla, and bourbon.

This is a really solidly done old school barrel aged stout. It’s got some heft and barrel character to it – licorice, tobacco, oak, and spicy bourbon. There’s very little sweetness, especially compared to the modern barrel aged stout.

This is medium bodied, not super thick, but there’s definitely a nice creamy body to this.

This is exactly in line with what I’d expect from a barrel aged stout from Forest and Main.

 

 

 

 

Bottled on 2/15/2023. Poured into a Willi Becher glass at 62°. It pours almost ink black with a half finger of frothy, medium mocha-colored head that disappeared quickly leaving a modest film of lacing inside the glass. Bourbon dominates the smell but it's joined by dark chocolate, burnt coffee, leather, tobacco, toffee, brown sugar, and just a hint of dark fruit. The barrel influence is less dramatic in the taste; the bourbon compliments the rich chocolate, espresso, and toffee/caramel. There is also a touch of dry, bitter char which keeps the Stout from being sweet. There are no gimmicky adjuncts. Initially, it was overtly boozy but that diminished as the Stout settled in the glass. While the mouth feel isn't as thick and chewy as I'd hoped, it's nonetheless silky smooth. Once the initial alcohol burn dissipated, it drank like its 11% ABV. Overall, BBA Gmork is a very fine, basic, barrel aged Imperial Stout. It's flavorful and a pleasure to drink. Enjoy it by a fire on a winter's night. I'm looking forward to drinking the Double Barrel variant.

 

 

22 oz waxed bottle

Pours black with tan colored head. Aroma is a nice mix of whiskey barrel and dark chocolate. Some vanilla in there too. Similar taste, not sweet, just enough booziness. Fuller bodied but not overly thick

Bottled 2/15/23, which makes this three months and a day old at the time of consumption. 16.9oz bottle purchased from the brewery for $22. I took this out of the fridge about 3 1/2 hours ago and I am drinking this around cellar temperature.

Look: Pours out very dark - it's almost black with dark brown highlights. It has a thin light brown head that consists of a mixture of small- and medium-sized bubbles that clings strongly to the rim of the glass. The beer looks like it has nice alcohol legs and a decent viscosity.

Smell: Very nice aromas of bourbon along with cherry cordial, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, and dark dried fruits hanging around in the background. There's a subtle marzipan note as well as some coffee/mocha notes.

Taste: Very nice. It is pretty smooth, yet there is a strong alcohol warming in the chest. Strong bourbon flavor with lots of barrel char, dark chocolate, and nuttiness. It's pretty sweet up front with an almost candied, bourbon-flavored syrupy flavor. The finish has some roasty bitterness to it, but the beer still has an almost cloying sweetness that is a bit too much especially for the larger format 16.9oz bottle. A 12oz bottle or smaller format of this beer would have been plenty. The bottom of the bottle tastes a bit different. I'm not sure if it's not as sweet or my palate is adjusting to the sweetness. It has really nice black forest cake notes.

Feel: It is nicely carbonated, perhaps a bit too carbonated especially soon after popping the cap. The body/mouthfeel is nice. The mouthfeel is relatively thick and it has a chewy finish. Eventually, the carbonation mellows out and it's not such an issue if you are able to take your time drinking this one.

Overall: This is a very nice bourbon barrel aged Imperial Stout. It has great flavor; I just wish that the beer had less carbonation. However, it's probably better to be over-carbonated than under-carbonated. The next time I go to Forest & Main I may pick up another one of these with the intention to cellar it for a few years. Personally, I don't think that this beer is quite ready to be consumed right now but that could just be my personal preference. I am curious how this compares with the base version of Gmork. I will look forward to trying it the next time that F&M releases it.

From the bottle/website:
Gmork is our Imperial Stout, brewed with Maris Otter and a plethora of dark specialty malts. After fermentation it was transferred to Knob Creek bourbon barrels, where it rested for eleven months.
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Hacheemachee, Gmork is back and badder than ever. We brewed our big (for us) imperial stout with a ton of Maris Otter and a plethora of sexy British roasted malts, then aged it for eleven months in Knob Creek Bourbon barrels.

It has decadent notes of rich vanilla bourbon, Black Forest chocolate cake, whiffs of hyacinth, sticky wet and charred oak, boozy apple cake, toasted marshmallows, a moderate opulence, and terrifying black dog. You can definitely get messed up on this one!