Appreciation for Barrel-Aged Beers

I would agree that drinking bourbon makes me appreciate bourbon BA beers, and the same applies to all types of barrels. I might need to revisit kbs I didn't remember it having a ton of barrel.

 

Sometimes a bit of distance helps reset things a bit, I often find time gives a new appreciation with Ba beers.

 

BA beers are definitely an acquired taste. I didn't like them at first, even though I drank more than a bit of bourbon earlier in life. Didn't take long and BA stouts became my favorite, particularly rum. BA stouts now account for perhaps 75% of my cellar. I now prefer rum BA stouts over bourbon BA, but they are generally more scarce and expensive.

 

I got into bourbon in 2009 after watching some stuff on television about Bookers and Blanton's several months before my first BA beer -- BCBS. I think it definitely helped me appreciate BA beers more than I would have without dipping my toes in first. Like @bbtkd BA beers take up the majority of my cellar.

 

I don't find most regular stouts all that interesting, the odd one I like is FBS and Peche Mortel. I much prefer Kbs, Bcbs and the coffee heads and tails above. Strange like that.

 

Péché Mortel is outstanding, and I'd like to get my hands on their BA version.

 

no this is a good line of thought, the best way to understand what's there in any given beer with an adjunct/barrel is to understand these things independent of each other, well done for pointing that out, whenever I'm drinking a bourbon barrel stout, I pour myself a very negligible amount of bourbon for taste and aroma comparisons, just to make sure I'm not talking out my own ass to myself about the flavor notes

 

I enjoy BBA Stouts ever so often but prefer Imperial Stouts without added flavors.

 

Definitely love me some barrel aged beers. I do drink my fair share of Kentucky Straight, Texas, and Wisconsin Bourbon, as well as many Scotches. I think that helps pull some of the flavors the barrels impart to the barrel aged beers. Most of the time, oak and vanilla are the most prevalent, but there are so many different flavors barrels can impart I figure one of the best ways to figure that out is drink stuff that has been aged in them before the beer.