Twenty Three
Central Waters Brewing Co.

 

 

2021 vintage; consumed on 4/30/2022

Pours a clean oil-black body topped with two fingers of dense, sudsy pale mocha foam; decent head retention yields a half-finger of frothy cap, lush, dense collar, and minimal strands of lacing holding temporarily to the walls of the glass.

Aromas of soft baked apple meet cacao as bourbon vanillins accentuate into deeper caramel and subtle oak lingering, while edges of bready char find a roasty toffee undertone to round out a calm, malt-forward sweetness.

Taste shows a healthy malt roast steadily disperse to light milk chocolate, with a quiet dark cherry imbuement marking the mid-palate; subtle apple brandy soothes a pillowy char as baked caramel is kissed with bourbon on the finish.

Mouthfeel features a body on the lighter end of medium and with subtle carbonation; a light, level mid-palate embraces a drying char with mild-moderate warming rounded into the back end, imparting a pseudo-bitterness to the finish.

A bittersweet stout base softened with barrel sweetness and taking on an unexpected baked apple undertone almost reminiscent of brandy, Central Waters provides yet another quality foundation with a consistently amplified spirit influence coaxing subtleties throughout.

 

 

 

Pours black black. Small tan head.
Smell is vanilla and bourbon.
Flavor follows but also has some tobacco and roasted malts.
Body isn’t too dense which makes it very drinkable.
I drank 5oz on tap and that plenty.

Poured at 59°. Multiple layers of oak and bourbon; caramel, toffee, some dark fruits - plums, raisins; some hop bitterness, yet overall mildly sweet. “Thin” for 13.7% abv, but sneaky and dangerous; a tad dry for me, but complex, layered and worthy. CW knows how to make BBA stouts!

 

 

22oz bottle poured into a pair of Crooked Stave hybrid tulips.

started drinking this at cellar temp.

Appearance: black bodied beer with medium brown bodied head. Thin layer of cap that remains the entire time drinking this beer. No lacing to speak of; booze legs present for sure.

Smell: bourbon barrel forward chocolaty stout. Central Waters wheelhouse beer for sure. Smells like it might have a touch of heat.

Taste: Yup, this is a bourbon barrel forward stout. Lots of charred oak with rich & spicy premium bourbon character. Chocolate base stout which is Central Waters calling card. Tobacco, umami, and molasses interweaved for complexity's sake. Hint of soy sauce too. Did this get some extended barrel aging time?

Mouthfeel: Medium full bodied stout. medium levels of carbonation. Spicy, boozy, rich textures abound here.

Overall: I think that bourbon and brandy varients of twenty three are standing fairly equal to each other.

As a side note, it really took me a long time to get to this stout considering that I tried the brandy back March of 2021 and have had this bottle of bourbon 23 just sitting around waiting for me to open it. Glad that I got to it finally.

 

From bottle in CW snifter. Deep brown. Limited head. Mild lacing. Smell is roasted malts and heavy barrel. Flavor follows the nose. Just a fantastic deep barrel flavor. Slightly sweet. Medium mouthfeel. Overall, another spectacular anniversary beer by CW.

Poured on draft into a 16 oz Snulip glass added in late January 2021. Pours a very attractive near pitch black, with a thin head on an amateur bartender pour, leaves some little bubbles of lace, with little retention again I blame the beertender. 4.5

Aroma cocoa nibs, vanilla bean, dry coffee grounds, coconut, woody oak, cinnamon, and charred bourbon. 4.25

Taste follows deep dark chocolate, woody vanilla, coconut, roasty coffee, cinnamon, and bourbon. 4.5

Mouthfeel is big, gentle carbonation, a tad dry, and at 13.7% it goes down rather easy because it is so complex, but huge flavor with a massive hit of bourbon in the lingering finish. 4.25

Overall this is really impressive stuff, still wish she had poured more aggressive and opened up this monster more, but I am impressed either way. 4.25

 

 

Central Waters Anniversary Edition XXIII BBA Imperial Stout, 13.7% ABV. Pours black with a one-finger brown head that left no lacing. Nose is oak, bourbon, chocolate, moleasses, and a hint of brown sugar. Taste follows, plus charred oak, slightly sweet, moderately bitter. Excellent mouthfeel, overall world-class.

 

Having drunk a liter or three of this already I suppose I should review it. 22 oz. bottle split with the wife.

Clever black with a bit of life to it & a nose of fudge, bourbon, oak. Classic.

Central Waters 23 is woody. Woody & oaky & then more oak, right up front. Oily bourbon sprinkled with good grande chocolate chips & a drizzle of molasses. Touch of char on the end as it warms towards room temp. Solid. The strength is in the ability to drink multiple glasses of this at a sitting.

Having a couple world-class, straight-up bourbon barrel stouts in the past few weeks is coloring my perception of this one. This is a very good beer but not up to the best or even the average of this decorated series of Anniversary brews.

A big thanks to Jeff for this one.

The regular 23 is Bourbon barrel aged. 22oz. capped bomber into a Brooklyn Brewery snifter. Shared with schen9303.

Pours dense with a mocha colored head that collapses and slight oily legs. Nose is chocolate, vanilla, brownie, sweet soy sauce, and dried dark fruit. Classic aroma. Beer opens chocolate, prunes, dried dark fruit, sweet soy sauce, molasses, and tobacco. Oakiness in the middle with overtones of leather and vanilla sweetness. More chocolate, molasses, and syrup at the finish. Very much traditional flavors of a barrel aged stout. This is delicious. Body is full with low carbonation. Rich and chewy on the palate and goes down warm with some zing. Rich and sticky finish and aftertaste. Really drinkable.

This one's a bit better than the brandy version. It's nice to see Central Waters carrying the traditional banner high!