Bourbon Barrel Aged Maxx Stout
Mac and Jack's Brewery

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours pitch black with only a few stray tiny bubbles and thread of foam around the rim of the glass. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa, a little caramel and bourbon. Flavor is dark toasted malt, toffee, cocoa, nuts and fruit esters in the finish. Medium bodied with slight creaminess, a little thin for a BA beer, but with OK carbonation despite the still pour.. Well, this turned out much better than I expected. My past experience with sub 8% barreled beers has not been stellar, I'm not even sure why its done. However, this one turned out darn good. The flavor and body are both subdued compared to expectations, and the aroma was fairly simple. The taste is surprisingly complex, although not as intense as a bigger BA stout. There are a lot of flavor notes to parse in each taste. I think the bright fruit flavors must be from the bourbon barrel, and perhaps they are clearer here than in bigger stouts because the malt is not as deep. This creates interesting flavor notes that make this intriguing. Lacks the depth of malt and body, but makes up for it in bright flavor. Interesting. The final enjoyment was more than the sum of its parts; I'll try this again.