Barrel Aged Ryan Sullivan's Imperial Stout
Moylan's Brewery

 

2016. My first foray into Moylan's. It appears, similar to a previous review of a 2014, that this was infected. It's difficult to tell if this was an imperial stout. Most of the reviews here are positive so I may try again with a different year sometime down the road.

Yet another beer tried for the first time at the Bistro's West Coast Barrel Aged Festival held on November 12, 2011. It was the 13th beer I had on the day, right after having the Lagunitas Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout.

Pours black, tan head of greater size, 2/3", impressive appearance. Aroma was a bit more alcohol than hoped for, but still had the requisite notes of whiskey and roasted malt.

Taste didn't give way to the amounts of vanilla some speak of. This was a more bitter experience than smooth. Carbonation was appropriate. Normally Heaven Hill makes for a slightly sweeter product, but this one just leaned hot and bitter for the majority of the journey.

In relatively small quantities split with friends, its a decent beer. Also wonder what laying them down for a few years would do, if it tempered the booziness and bitterness, I think this vaults itself up into the very good category instead of merely just being a "good" beer at this stage.

2016 edition...

 

 

 

2014 version smells and tastes of an infected bottle. Was a gift from manager of my regular bottle shop. Smell of sour butter followed by an equally unpleasant taste.

Diacetyl city.

 

 

 

 

2014 Infected. Should have checked BA before purchasing

On tap at Beachwood bbq Seal Beach poured into snifter. Appearance is nearly opaque black with a finger of tan head and patchy lacing. Aroma is booze, chocolate, vanilla, oak. Flavors are similar with lots of sweetness and a touch of roasty malt. Medium-full bodied, thick, chewy, slick texture; long sweet, hot finish, low carbonation.

Totally and utterly infected. Step up the quality control.....

I'd like to add the fact that I managed to contact Brendan Moylan (the owner) himself via e-mail about this beer, and he admitted that the 2014 batch of this brew had excessive amounts of diacetyl - ergo, he asked all distributors carrying this product to pull it off the shelves ASAP. I feel bad for all those who bought this beforehand, but this is still a nice way of showing some signs of accountability. You live and you learn...

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22 oz bottle into a teku.

Appearance: Pours a very dark brown color. The head is two fingers high and khaki in shade. It has the texture and duration of a good saison, rather than a BA imperial stout. This fact is slightly worrying me because that usually means infection. Having said that, and also in spite of the lack of lacing left on the glass, this is a good looking brew. (4)

Smell: Huh. It seems like there's something wrong with this brew. I do pick up some notes of dark chocolate, vanilla, and brown sugar - I also get lots of butter (not from oak barrels, but from diacetyl), paint thinner, shoe polish, and good ol' fashioned lactic sourness. This is definitely not what the brewers intended, and I'll leave it at that... (1.75)

Taste: Sadly, the taste follows the nose. Initial pleasant notes of dark chocolate and dark fruits last for a second, and is the best part of this brew. After that, it turns into shit, finishing with metal shavings, paint thinner, and plenty of diacetyl. No significant tartness - to me, that would have improved this some. It's not irredeemably bad, but it is still pretty damn bad. (1.75)

Mouthfeel: Overly fizzy and thin. This actually makes it somewhat drinkable, when I can get past the lousy taste that is. Even worse, it's turning my stomach some. :( (1.75)

Overall: The sad thing is, I can taste a decent imperial stout behind the infected mess. Maybe lacking in barrel notes, but nothing to complain about either. As it stands, though, it's very worthy of complaint - I normally don't review infected beer, but seeing as this cost me around $13, I'm definitely going to put out a caveat emptor for this. Avoid the 2014 batch at all costs. (1.75)

1.86/5: Infected beer makes me really sad

On tap today at the source.

Light and thin Barrel Aged Stout. No body or real complexity to speak of other than roast coffe, some vanilla and cherries. Where's the bourbon? Where's the sticky Barrel? I'm a fan of Moylan's for the most part but this is a huge miss. The least interesting barrel aged stout I've had.

2014 was recalled by moylans because of high levels of diacetyl