All Our Fathers' Sins
Great Lakes Brewery

six and a half years' aging on the beer has brought to fore the bourbon barrelling, which bourbon we could not ascertain. Very nice creation, but not something I could have finished by myself. Popular at our tasting.

Got this one from hopsolutely about a year ago. With COVID-19 happening, we won’t be flying home this summer. To lick my wounds, I might as well imbibe on my last Canbrew in the basement. Cheers, guys!

From a bottle into a snifter
IBU: 40
Seven Barrel Series
Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with coffee and Vanilla

APPEARANCE: Clear dark brown pour yields a 1+ finger, creamy, frothy off-white head with very good retention. Light colored brew for the style. Clear bistre brown, almost black body with medium levels of carbonation. Head slowly recedes to a full cap and clings to the sides of the glass. A half wisp remains leaving some solid lacing on the glass as it empties.

SMELL: Bourbon, oak and wood aromas, some nice vanilla cream, milk chocolate, light coffee notes and some butterscotch on the nose. Bold.

TASTE: Bourbon, wood and oak flavors, with some vanilla and milk chocolate up front, then some more barrel character and a touch of roasted flavors at the swallow. Bolder finish of bourbon, wood, oak, vanilla cream, milk chocolate, some lightly roasted coffee flavors, and a bit of sweet toffee and butterscotch linger on the palate. Solid.

PALATE: Medium body and medium carbonation. A little foamy on the palate, goes down okay with a bit of a burn and finishes a touch mouth-coating. Some decent heat lingers.

OVERALL: This is alright. I honestly don’t think it’s as good as their original incarnation of Solstice Stout or their old school 25th anniversary Imperial Stout, but it might be as good as their 30th anniversary stout that came our relatively recently. The look is too light for the style and feel is not quite heavy or creamy enough, but the aroma and flavor show what GLB is all about. This is a good beer, but not quite world class like some of their others have been. Thanks again, guys! I will sorely miss our yearly gathering this year.

Appearance: Black as night, as a good stout should be but didn't even produce a pinky of head and zero in the way of lacing is not a good sign either on this front. What little head did come forward was a dark brown, but it's not starting off great as it near instantly evaporated.

Smell: Sweet bourbon background, which thankfully doesn't come across as too boozey and all but overwhelming the well roasted malt and touch of dark chocolate in the background. Warming brings the bourbon out more but the potency is there from the get go.

Taste: Rich well roasted toffee and caramel malt start us off which I wouldn't expect from a beer black in color. Then the sweet flavour of bourbon comes forward with notes of burnt oak and vanilla ending with a nice dark chocolate snap. If I wanted a textbook example of bourbon aged stout, this is it.

Mouthfeel: Point get deducted for the lack of head and mainly because this beer went flat very fast. The carbonation is only really noticeable at the start of the beer. Transitioning is good, and the fact it's doing a solid job at keeping it's 11.5% under wraps somehow while having whiskey as the dominant flavour is impressive as well. Aftertaste is a mix of bourbon and dark chocolate.

Drinkability: I don't know what it is that makes this beer seem like it's under 10%, but I'm a huge fan of it. I like how the aftertaste never cloys and doesn't build on itself. It's simply there. It's also thick which is good, but the low carbonation means the creamy part of the stout equation is sadly missing. Still doesn't change the fact it was ridiculously easy to drin and sat down exceptionally well in mah belly.

Final Thoughts: A solid barrel aged stout, but one can't help but lament the carbonation issues. I sincerely hope this wasn't a bottling issue because I for one prefer bottles to cans, and the fact I was able to add a Great Lakes cap to my collection. I get the feeling if I did grab this closer to the source, it would have fared better. It also somewhat expresses a frustration I have with reviewing the look of a stout. I mean, it's supposed to be opaque black...so really you have to gauge it mostly on head, and when something like this happens..well it's late to the gate. Oh well.

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of roasted malt with huge notes of black chocolate and bourbon is super enjoyable. Taste is also a mix of bourbon notes with some vanilla and huge chocolate notes with some bitter light roasted notes. Body is full with nice creamy texture and good carbonation. Solid BA imperial stout.