Bourbon Barrel Aged Stouts

@GabberGod said it all! Clown Shoes and Firestone Walker constantly release BBA stuff. Not all stouts, but still. All high quality too IMO.

 

Avery's vanilla bean is year round.

 

I agree with those stating that oak aged is not similar to barrel aged. I wouldn't go so far as to say I never like clean oak aged beers, but I do find most of them to be overly harsh. Bourbon barrels impart a rounder coconuty taste that I do not normally associate with regular oak.

I also dislike most vanilla infused beers. I don't know why this is, since the oak barrels impart some vanillin flavours. I guess my point is not all "aged" beers are equal, and if you like some, you won't automatically like others. In my case, I love bourbon barrel aged beers, and generally dislike oak aged and vanilla infused beers. There are some exceptions to the latter rule though.

 

All year? Nope. Breweries limit supplies, intentionally making them seasonal releases in order to preserve the mystique about them. There is no fundamental reason why BCBS, KBS or Parabola, etc could not be continuously bottled year around.

Most guys I know try to stock up on special releases. Between last year's BCBS, KBS, SMS, Parabola, Abyss, etc, I have collected enough bourbon stouts to last the rest of this year easily. Then you toss in your locals, which for me is like the Event Horizon and maybe some Aviator Night Jump, and you're easily set up for the year in regards to stouts. On top of that you have your non-barrel aged stouts that are fantastic (such as the Speedway or the Expedition) and its just an overkill on stouts at that point.

What I can't seem to keep enough of is IPA's. This time of year especially when the weather is warming, stouts begin to fall out of favor for me personally. Who wants a 13% malt bomb outside in 80 degree weather?

 

The distro on Big Bad Baptist has really improved but in our area it's not available year round. I also endorse Dragon's Milk.

 

You enjoy my stout from Cambridge brewing is pretty good And not expensive.

 

Perhaps not all year but in many places on the west coast Abyss will spend some time on shelves and is typically awesome.

 

Glad I'm not the only one that gets coconut from bourbon and vice-versa. The first time I tried Death By Coconut I was like "the fuck? did they put the BA Death By Coconut in the wrong cans?" because I was getting a set of flavor notes that so much reminded me of the mid-range portion of a classic bourbon flavor. Hell, the next morning the dried dregs in the glass smelled like, well, dried up bourbon. I put it off to temporary palate malfunction and scrapped the review. Revisited it later and figured out that what I was picking up on was some interaction between the coconut and the malt.

And yeah, not a fan of vanilla in dark beers. The result is usually a flavor that is very offputting to me for some reason. Victory at Sea comes across as wet, discarded coffee grounds on sickly-sweet, mildly-rotting garbage to me. The last part is what I get from the vanilla (or, probably more accurately, from the vanilla + the malt).

OT: After reading this thread, I decided to drop the cash and pick up the bottle of BA Narwhal I'd been eyeballing at my bottle shop. Went in yesterday, alas it was gone.

 

I purchased 6 bottles of 2016 KBS this year in total. As far as BCBS, I managed to purchase about a case and a half of it this year and won't finish it before the next release. Stouts just keep piling on top of each other up for me.

I am in North Carolina. Its not exactly whale county out here either but I manage OK. Even if I have to travel to neighboring states like Virginia, which is fine by me (just 45 minutes out), I'll score what I need to score for the season in general. I generally do not like dealing in quantities smaller than half a case and do not like trading as much these days because so many other guys seem to be focused on *winning* the trade. But how else am I going to score cases of Heady Topper? No real choice for me.

Merkin was very good this year. I hope you get a chance to try it along with these others. As far as Dragon's Milk, I have to somewhat agree with you. It isn't a very good beer. Basically bad beer masked by bourbon. I'm bewildered that anybody would mention that as a substitute for any of the beers you mentioned, but to each their own. Anyhow, the beers we're talking about don't fall into anybody's lap but they are possible to acquire with some effort and are generally worth it, IMO.

Have you checked the BA database for local options as far as barrel aged stouts?

 

gonna second this guy

 

Live near St Pete, and you can get BA cycle stouts pretty much year round.

 

BA Ten Fidy
personally on the lookout for this one

 

If you can get your hands on Avery stuff they have many BA stouts. (If you dont' mind 15%+ ABV.)

They really have mastered the barrel aging process. Can't go wrong there. Uncle Jacob's is a great recommendation.

 

Try the regional forums here on BA as well. They can be helpful for recommendations. There is usually a thread dedicated to what you're searching for already. If not just start one.

 

Hard to go wrong with Big Bad Baptist.