Black Note Info

Just got back from Kalamazoo. I had a blast today. The Barrel Aging tour that I attended today was very informative. Austin and Michael did a really good job presenting. They mentioned that they would probably be doing more of these kind of tours again in the future but I don't know how frequently. They shared 3 or 4 ounce pours of Traverse City Whiskey Expedition and Raspberry Wild One.

I also made sure I asked about Black Note. They stated that Expedition and Special Double Cream Stout were barreled separately and then blended together after they are aged.

I also found it interesting that the only hops in Expedition are Centennial hops.

 

Good info. I'm going to the "Black Note Reconstructed" event on Tuesday in Ann Arbor and planning to ask the same questions. Lets see if I get the same answer.

 

Thanks for verifying what many of us here already knew. Hopefully this will help to end the discussion by getting the correct info out there.

 

The event today was great. Blackbeard's Bear Hug was just as good as Goose Prop '13. It was amazing.

 

Blackbeard's was the first one to go off the board. Talk about flavors, especially as it warmed up. When it was cold, the taste reminded us of the cinnamon Teddy Grahams snacks. The coconut came through more as it came closer to room temp. A really great stout. Hope that they have another keg of that one for All Stouts Day.

 

I saw that (i na sponsered FB ad tha tdid not show price), can't make it, but was wondering how much the ticket cost? Thx

 

$18 for 2016 vintage (expo and BN), $22 for 2014 vintage (expo and BN). Plus about $1.50 for eventbrite fee. You basically get 4oz pour of BN, 8oz pour of expo, 16oz pour of DCS, and a shot of 4 Roses bourbon.

 

I asked the exact same question, glad others did too.

Blackbeard's bear hug was amazing. Top of the day for me and only wish I would have gotten another (i had plenty of other beer too, not like i needed another). The bear hug base to me is just okay, but that was so delicious. So much coconut. The Vanilla 355 was the next I saw go off when i checked the tap cam later. The board returned to normal today.

 

There was a lot of cinnamon in the Bear Hug. It was good but if you don't like that adjunct it would be overpowering. For me the BA 30th was just incredible, roasty like the base with quite a bit of barrel. The barrel didn't hide the base but complemented. The TC Whiskey Expo was great too. I really hope they have some 30th sitting in barrels for bottling.

 

Agreed - tried 10 different beers and BA 30th was my favorite by far. I was a little disappointed in the TC 355 w/Vanilla - it was too thin/carbonated for my liking. I also really enjoyed BA Neptune and Jupiter. Another great event put on by Bells.

 

Was the place a madhouse on Sunday? We called for a table, and they said about two hour wait. Ended up not going, and went to one well brewing instead.

 

Honestly, there were open tables often. I don't know how they were filling them etc. as we got a table when they opened, but it didn't seem overly crazy to me at all. When we went to our tour at 3 there were quite a few open tables, and since we had to meet at the front desk, that area wasn't packed with people waiting, so I don't know... And at 3, everything was still on the board.

 

So had a good 20 minute 1-on-1 with the Bell's rep at the Black Note Reconstructed event; confirmed a lot of the above and learned a few new things. The individual beers are barrel aged separate and then blended. He said it was supposedly a 50/50 mix, but even he didn't think that could be right looking at the ABV of the two components. He said it should gain a little in the barrel but with the lower ABV of DCS, it would seem that there is more expo in the final blend. Although it appears BAE is lower ABV than regular expo so again, conflicting info. He did confirm that yes, a good portion of the BA DCS (but not all) was lost this year and that resulted in bottling of the extra BAE. When asked if this was a one-off situation, all he would say is its not in the plan to bottle BAE again, but you just never know. He indicated that BN is expected to be an every other year release. We talked a bit about distro of this years BN and lack there of in SE MI, even though there was supposedly some sent over. He said Busch's was the only store on our side of the state to see it (10 cases maybe?). And from what I know it never saw the floor. I found it a little interesting that the BN served at the event was from bottles and not a keg. One thing he did spill the beans on is that the planets may make a return. He said look for Mars in the near future....

 

As the only person on this site that LOVED Venus, this makes me very happy...

 

I got there at 10, waited in line for an hour. Was prob the 10th person in line. Got a spot right at the bar. It was very busy from 11-2. There was a continuos line to the bar to order ur beer.

 

Where do you see that Barrel Aged Expedition is lower ABV than Expedition?

 

Another Mars release would make me so happy. Bells has a way with DIPA's and this one is the best of the bottled bunch. As I recall, this was a smother version of Oracle. Now if they would just bottle some double Two Heart!

 

On Bells website. 10.0 for BAE vs 10.5 for expo. Not at home at the moment so can't look at actual bottles.

https://www.bellsbeer.com/beer/specialty/bourbon-barrel-aged-expedition-stout

https://www.bellsbeer.com/beer/specialty/expedition-stout

 

BA Expedition says 13.0% ABV on the bottle

 

I'd think there is a bit of batch variation too.

None the less, as a guy who updates websites, little things like this get neglected and not updated often.