Wild Turkey Barrel Conditioned Stout
Denver ChopHouse & Brewery

 

 

 

A: Pours a dark brown with some ruby red around the edges. No head and no lace. Dead and lifeless.
S: This smells like wood with Thompson Water Seal. Dank and moldy. Even though this is relatively low on the alcohol it is still very pungent.
T: Tastes like whiskey with a thin and week stout thrown in. Moldy and ash like. Not good.
M/D: Thin and watery. No carbonation. This was so bad, I could not finish my sample.

Really poorly made. Nothing about this is enjoyable. Avoid if at the brewpub.

Interesting to see high reviews on this one. I guess my impression was a bit different.
Arrives a deep brown (not quite black) with about a 1/2" head in a large snifter. Looks great, honestly.
The nose is...all bourbon? Not much in the way of a stout going on here. Maybe a little bit of a grain note in there, but I might as well be sniffing a whiskey and water.
The flavor carries a similar problem. The base is an oatmeal stout and it just doesn't have enough body or flavor to carry all of the huge bourbon and vanilla flavors that are coming through. I got some slightly roasted notes and hints of a stout here and there, but this is just too weak of a beer for something like this.
Mouthfeel and texture are excellent. No qualms there.
One serving was enough for me, although serious bourbon aficionados might really like this a lot.
This beer just needed an export or imperial stout base. The whiskey flavors are quite solid, but they're overpowering and wasted a bit.
I like the DCH's lager offerings, but this was a miss for me.

Per the menu: Wild Turkey Barrel Conditioned Stout
Served in a brandy glass

Per the bartender and the menu the beer is the dry stout that is then aged for an amount of time in the barrel and then transferred to a keg.

The beer appears a deep opaque black with a tan-ish head that had some decent retention and heavy lacing. The beer gave off some red highlights when held up to light. It also had an uneven cap left.

The aroma is a light bourbon aroma with some malted barley. The bourbon and vanilla became much more pronounced as the beer warmed.

The taste is good. Dry stout with roasted malt, with subtle hints of the bourbon and vanilla, maybe from the barrel. The beer also gave off a woody taste, no doubt also from the barrel. The bourbon was much more pronounced as the beer warmed. The beer probably would have received a better mark here, but felt that the beer was lacking in depth and complexity.

The beer has a medium body to it, rich, smooth and creamy with good carbonation.

Drinkability is really good considering most of the beers that are aged in whisky barrels are not. At least for me, they tend to be too much alcohol in the flavor and not enough of the beer. The bartender was a little unsure of what the ABV was, but it must be a little more elevated as I could feel it before I was done with the beer.

a: beautiful deep dark crude black with a light tan frothy head that leaves a sheet of lace on the wall of the snifter they served it in

s: sweet and salty bourbon; chocolate; light coffee

t: chocolate; salty bourbon; dark chocolate; raisins; the bourbon complements the darker coffee flavors really well

m: smooth ad creamy with light carb

d: a really interesting stout that is worth a try; such a tasty blend

so I'm in denver for a short work trip and as I peruse the brewpubs in the beer fly, I find the chop house with a wild turkey barrel aged stout. Guess where I'm going for dinner??

A - nice black color, dark tan head. Reddish see through color at the edges. Not quite dark enough IMO but its only the look
S - vanilla, boubon, soft oak, ahhhh...
t - vanilla, bourbon, soft oak, sweet malts. yeah, this one's a great tasting treat.
m - medium bodied, nicely carbonated, creamy smooth and light across the tongue. Served way too cold but that's another story...
D - Drank quite well and paired nicely with a buffalo pizza.

2 glasses over dinner and very happy for the experience. Try it if you get the chance.

I sampled this at the brewery a few weeks ago and had to bring home a growler to enjoy it more thoroughly. Not many brewpubs will offer up their high-end specialty brews by the jug, but that's why I love the Chophouse!

This beer doesn't get very far on its looks. It's a tad too light for an American stout, especially a bourbon-barrel aged one, allowing for garnet highlights when held to the light. The head is virtually nonexistent and leaves only a thin ring of lace around the brew.

Fortunately, the rest of this beer is spectacular, and I'm happy to close my eyes and drink up. It has a bouquet that mixes some vanilla (bourbon-ish) aromas with a light alcohol presence. The beer has a sweet flavor--a mix of butterscotch, vanilla, milk, and a peppery dry finish that harkens back to the base stout. The welcome alcohol warmth is just right--it asserts the beer's strength without scalding the tongue and overwhelming the palate. This is a well-balanced brew that could be improved only with a darker look and more pronounced stout presence in the palate.

It's creamy and easy to drink; not as good as Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout, but a worthwhile and enjoyable expression of the style nonetheless. Recommended to anyone who happens through Denver.

On a separate note: the brewery now refers to this as "Wild Turkey Barrel-Conditioned Stout," and it is a year-round offering.

A brew aged in Wild Turkey barrels. This was part of my sampler tray. Black body, looked a bit thin. Thin off-white head. Smell of malt, hops and caramel. A touch of bourbon as well.
Taste was fantastic, a bit of bourbon-caramel mixed well with the malt and hops. Chocolate and coffee still present, not quite as powerful as in their oatmeal stout.
A good bite at the end cleanses the caramel and coffee taste.
Darn good brew.