CO Barrel Aged Stouts

Don't think anyone posted about this yet, date is set for Finkel & Garf BBA stout release. Two 4 pack limit so might be tough to snag a case like last year

Says they added a touch of cinnamon and vanilla this year. That beer was so great last year, I'm excited to try it!

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1252198014868656

 

Someone posted about this release in the "Stout Month" thread but I'll post the same question here as I did over there:

Anyone ever attend one of these Finkel & Garf releases before? Do they sell out the same day or does the beer tend to stick around for a little bit? I have a friend that will be in town that weekend and we might hit this up after the PtY tapping at FRTH.

 

This will probably be their biggest release to date in terms of popularity, so it's hard to gauge. Last year they had cans of the BBA available for weeks and IIRC even brought out a second canning run weeks later. The cans also hit distro last time and sat on shelves at some stores. More hype this time around so YMMV. I would guess it will be available for at least a couple days, but no idea how much they are packaging total...

 

There were maybe 2 dozen people @ F&G @ 3PM when the BA Imp Stout was tapped, maybe a 3rd were asking for it.
I wish this had been a one-off and not the primary release. CINNAMON! Now I love cinnamon, and if that had been the release - a Cinnamon Imp Stout -, I'd be happy. But it overrode the 2nd use bourbon barrel flavor and the vanilla. My wife says she tasted the bourbon in it, but she's super sensitive, I struggled to find it.
Last year's was stellar and spot on for what I like in a BA Imp Stout. The base beer is still real good, but the combo of the 2nd use barrel and the real strong cinnamon pretty much negated the use of the barrel.
I still grabbed 2 4-packs because it's still an enjoyable beer, but I don't think it holds a candle to last year's.

 

I second the comments regarding the cinnamon. My hope is that, with some time, that flavor diminishes/blends a bit. I should note that I might be a little sensitive to cinnamon (Fresh Abraxas is too much for me). With that said, I also got 2 four packs. I think $16 per four pack is pretty reasonable.

 

I had a totally different experience / opinion (which, by the way, in no way invalidates your guys' own thoughts): I have rarely found a stout with adjuncts where the barrel aging doesn't totally kill the nuanced flavor. Don't get me wrong, I love bourbon. But if I want bourbon, I'm going to drink bourbon and not beer. It's also entirely possible that I'm getting bourbon barrel palate fatigue (probably closer to the truth). All that said, I thought the more muted barrel was fantastic: it was definitely there (way more than, say, the CO Native Imperial Porter), but I could still taste the cinnamon, which is a huge bonus in my book. Of course, we could also talk about the fact that this year's version has cinnamon and vanilla in the first place. I get that it wasn't what folks were probably expecting (me neither until recently). So there's that. But yeah. My summary: different than last year. Barrel is slightly more muted, which works for the adjuncts (to my palate). And can we talk about a local, low key, low hype release for a BBA beer in 12oz cans!

 

And looks like this is seeing a bit of distribution after all (not sure how far out it's going).

 

I finally made it over to Finkel last night and I have to say I really enjoyed the BBA stout. As with many others, I'd probably have preferred a non-adjunct release, but I was very impressed with this offering. I thought the vanilla helped bring out the bourbon nicely, and that compared to some other much-hyped Mexican stouts, the cinnamon in this one was not overwhelming. I think this will age gracefully for the next 6 months to a year, but to me it's drinking well right now.

 

If anyone knows of a place that still has double barrel Baptist I would love to hear about it. You can PM me if you want your secret to be safe.

 

Can't say 100% now, but when I was @ the brewery last weekend it was on

 

This is no joke. I regret not buying every bottle that crossed my path.

 

You and a lot of other people now. CO very well represented on the Paste BA stout tasting, especially Epic. Impressive overall. Now I'm even more excited about my trade box of DB BBB and Baptista showing up Thurs . Happy reading!
https://www.pastemagazine.com/artic...d-imperial-stouts-blind-tasted-and-r.html?a=1

 

but the variants are made in Utah. We keepin' it real.

 

Opened my second and last bottle of dry dock hazelnut double coffee porter today and felt like it was really balanced in case anyone is sitting around with a bottle. Wish I had another based on how this one is tasting.

 

Just picked up a 4pack of the F&G BBA Imperial Stout from Argonaut. Very curious about this beer as I've been reading mixed reviews from you guys about this. Didn't know this was seeing distro so I decided to give it a shot. I'll report back with my expertise opinion after I drink one.

 

I think it got some mixed reviews in here, and the price point likely kept some from checking it out, but man I loved the BA Genius Wizard I had last night.

 

I'll have to try that one again. I found last year's to be OK but it didn't wow me. And like you mentioned the price was a bit high, which kept me from going back this year.

Speaking of high prices, but a beer that did wow me, BA Malice and Darkness from Fiction. They brought some more bottles out this past week. Same batch

 

Just finished my first can of F&G BBA Stout. This beer was way more cinnamon forward than anything else. Kind of thin on the body. Got some heat/spice from the cinnamon and bourbon. I didn't get a whole lot of bourbon flavor right off the bat but as it warmed the bourbon definitely came through a little more. I didn't get a ton of vanilla flavor as this was supposed to be one of the adjuncts but I still enjoyed it. Overall, I'm happy I bought a 4pack but I don't need more than that. Very curious to see how this ages. Plan on gradually opening the remaining cans I have over the next year to see if/how it changes.

 

I opened another one of the F&G cinnamon stouts this weekend and it was still very spice-heavy, but more drinkable already. I think I'm going to keep my other 2 cans for about a month and see what's going on. There's a good beer in there that just needs a little mellowing time.

I know it isn't always feasible now, but I recall Avery sitting on their big beers for months after they were packaged. This is one of those situations where that could be warranted. I realize some folks really like cinnamon, but it's pretty overbearing at the moment.

 

Had DB BBB fairly recently at the Mayor of Old Town in FoCo