Blackout Stout - Barrel-Aged
Great Lakes Brewing Co.

 

 

A - Pours pitch black with a thin off white head. Decent amount of spotty lacing.

S - Aroma is dark chocolate, coffee, roasted malts and charred oak.

T - The taste is dark chocolate, vanilla, caramel, charred oak and some bourbon heat.

M - Medium body with medium body. Creamy mouthfeel with a soft prickly finish.

O - Decent, but was expecting more.

16-ounce can courtesy of @Whyteboar. Date stamp is "17:18:52 202401 7HH4RBT," so make of that what you will. Enjoyed in a nonic half-pint glass.

Look:
Very dark reddish-brown with mahogany highlights. The head of tan foam shows low retention but produces dense webs of lacing.

Nose:
Right out of the can, I get malted milk balls and a bit of roasted malt. Bourbon becomes more evident as the beer warms, along with prunes, caramel, and coffee.

Taste:
There are a lot of flavors here, but none of them are overpowering, and they're all nicely balanced. (If anything, they're kind of subdued for a barrel-aged imperial stout.) The beer starts with a mix of dark and milk chocolate, then roasted almonds and hazelnuts, and then dark roasted malt in a supporting role. There's also a bit of vanilla nougat in there. Bourbon follows, quietly at first but with growing authority as I make my way through my first glass. Notes of prunes and raisins are up next, and they play nicely with mild black coffee flavors that build like storm clouds. The long finish is a nutty vanilla biscotti dunked in bourbon-spiked coffee. Plenty of roasted malt. Not too sweet!

Feel:
Given the depth and balance of flavors, I found the feel frankly disappointing. It seems lightweight for an imperial stout. The body is heavier than medium, but not by much. The texture is smooth, but the carbonation is a little unruly. The alcohol heat is a smidge obtrusive.

Overall:
I liked the large cast of flavors, and the way that they didn't step on each other's feet. It has a good amount of barrel character. It's not too sweet. I do think the body could use a few more pounds, and the carbonation and heat could be dialed back a notch. But the beer gets more things right than wrong, and is certainly a very nice barrel-aged stout.

 

This one is marginal for style. It is enjoyable in its own way, but definitely in the C+ to B- range. All looks well upon pouring, and scents are nice with vanilla, caramel, coffee, and molasses leading the way. Drinking gives way to zero lacing, a thinner body, and close to effervescent carbonation that does die down as the beer warms. Viscosity is very low for the style. Flavors are decent with vanilla and graham cracker leading the way strangely. This tastes more like a dark barrel aged scotch ale than a stout to me. Expected RIS notes are missing in action. I don't dislike this beer at all, it's just a bit of a jumble with strong vanilla presence that reminds me of Backwoods Bastard very much. Missing depth, viscosity, correct flavors, and way too much carbonation for style. Otherwise this is a nice beer.

 

It looks black in the glass but it's more like really rich coffee black - quite a bit of brownish involved at the edges. About 3/4 inch of khaki soapsudsy foam that laces only a little after falling to a respectable cap. I looks a tad bit thin...

Aroma is pretty subdued. No alcohol. Chocolate, roast malt, a little oak, very faint bourbon. Hmm...not too impressed here.

The flavor starts with chocolate and roasted malts. There's a pretty faint bourbon note and a bit of woodiness. There's a barely perceptible bourbon/vanilla sweetness in the aftertaste and a tiny bit of aromatic anise flavor. No sign of the 12-ish% ABV. As it warms, the bourbon comes out more clearly as well as dark fruit. There's a decent amount of coffee taste that lingers with just a bit of char.

The feels seems thin for the style, but it's a smooth drinker. Dangerously easy at the stated ABV.

It's a pretty laid back RIS and the barrel treatment seems quite understated. It does bloom a bit when it warms, bit it really doesn't scream barrel at me. Glad to have it, but probably would not buy it again.

 

Sampling a 16 oz can at cellar temp and poured into a snifter. purchased at a shop in PA. Date stamp says 202301 Not sure how to translate that, but Im not worried about the date to be honest.

Pouring into my snifter. The beer is not as dark as I expected and pours more of a cola brown than back. it does rest darker in the glass.
there is a creamy beige head of about 1 cm that foams up and slowly fades to a totally covering surface layer that sticks around throughout my sampling. I also get dense creamy lattice on each swirl or sip of the glass.
Aroma is roasted malt, dark chocolate, hints of bourbon and a little vanilla. No hops anywhere and the ABV is hidden with no fusol notes, no peppery spice, nothing. Dangerous for 12.5%!
First sip is more of what the nose advertised. Medium body with smooth texture and very fine carbonation , beer drinks easy on the physical traits.
Flavor is roasted malt and dark chocolate, some sweeter bourbon comes through in the finish. Again, no hops nor booze.
While it could be a little more robust physically, the flavor is very nice and drinkability very dangerous. Im glad I finally got my hands on this beer!

Pours a very dark brown, opaque in the glass except for a little auburn around the limb. Ample cocoa colored foam dissipates to thin lacing. Smell is deep in roasted malt and coffee, with a hint of bourbon. Taste starts with bourbon and oak, rapidly joined by the roasted malt and coffee. Flavor goes back to the bourbon in the end, with roasted malt and a bit of toffee. This carries through a long aftertaste. Body seems a little light for an imperial stout, or perhaps the carbonation is just stronger, making it feel lighter. Overall, this is an excellent beer, but a shade lighter in body and flavor than its competition. As a result, the barrel flavors come more to the fore.

Pours a dark mahogany brown and settles black in the glass with a soapy tan head that lingers and forms a ring around the body of the beer. Looks magnificent in the glass.

The nose has booze and oak notes up front, but quickly yields to the roasty malt and coffee aromas that the base beer features, along with some earthy pine notes courtesy of the Simcoe hops.

The taste captures all of that - bourbon and oak flavors balanced by the rich roasty malt and coffee, with the resiny pine imparting a bit of bitterness (50 IBU’s) to balance those diverse components. So delicious.

The mouthfeel is just a smidge thinner than expected for a beer of this gravity, but make no mistake - this is world class stuff here, IMHO.

2024 vintage

Pours black with one finger of creamy head that persists. Abundant lacing. Nose is chocolate, coffee and a faint nuttiness. Taste is dark chocolate, coffee, oak and bourbon notes. Mouthfeel is low-to-moderately carbonated, somewhat thin, but creamy. Finish leaves much of the barrel and adds some bitter char.

 

 

 

**
03/07/25

Roasted Malt, Cocoa, Oak. Late and mild vegemite flavors.

very smooth. thin for a barrel aged stout. super drinkable.

I think I like the non barrel version better, but its been a while. a month and a half shy of a decade since I first reviewed blackout stout.

**