CO Barrel Aged Stouts

Breckenridge Barrel Aged 72 Imperial Stout (Had this one on-tap at the Ale House, very tasty, had both versions).

Cheers!

 

Visiting Boulder/Denver/Breck over the next 8 days, any BA beers out now to be on the lookout for?

 

You might be able to find The Commodore by Diebolt around somewhere. Also, not a BA stout, but you should be able to get Death by Coconut.

 

You may run across a BA Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout here and there

 

I bought some Diebolt Commodore at Boulder Liquor Mart 2 weeks ago. They seemed to have plenty. I think that one is flying under the radar as they aren't a huge name and the bottle doesn't exactly hammer the fact that it is barrel aged.

 

I saw that one the shelf too. But I couldn't tell if it was from the original batch back in March or not. I drank those Commodore bottles with a few months on them and they were a shadow of the original beer on tap. Fresh on tap at the time Commodore was great. After a few months in a bottle, no so much. Good, but who needs to settle for good?

I'd be interested to hear how those bottles are drinking.

 

I was at the Copper Kettle today for the release of Buffalo Trace BA MCS and a woman from the brewery got up on a chair to tell us not to age this beer, keep it in the fridge, and drink it as fresh as possible. Thanks for the PSA and I'll be happy to drink this beer again sometime very soon. It certainly is an interesting twist on a familiar local classic.

 

How was it? Any comparisons to other similar beers? I wanted to come up, but once they announced it was a 1pp limit I decided against it, the drive from the Springs just wasn't worth that.

 

I love MCS to begin with, and thought this was a stellar version. Picked up and appreciated the vanilla bean but thought the barrel character was very subtle.

 

I personally find regular MCS to be a bit too hot (spice wise not booze) so I was hoping the barrels would tame it, but maybe it's best I didn't drive up...

 

I'm at Copper Kettle now helping finish off the keg. I honestly dont like the regular version much, too much chili heat in the throat, but the barrel and vanilla basically killed all that and it's incredible.

 

We love the regular MCS as well. It does vary in heat and cinnamon strength from batch to batch. The batch of the regular they were serving last night was pretty mild in spicing as that beer goes. Though I can't say if that was the base batch they used for the Buffalo Trace version or not.

My assessment is much the same. I liked the vanilla bean addition. The spicing was there but muted from the general norm. This is consistent with other BA versions of MCS. The spicing always seems to calm down while sitting in a barrel.
The Buffalo Trace presence was less than I was expecting based on other BT aged beers I've had. But it was consistent with other BA beers from Copper Kettle. They do tend to take a light hand in the barrel's influence.

Overall it is a really good tasting beer. Worth $20 a bottle? I got one and I might grab another for a friend when Mile High releases theirs. Maybe even grab another for myself. Though I don't see that aging will help it out at all and CK doesn't recommend aging it either. Of course that could refer back to the MCS bottle explosions. Refrigerate and drink soon.

 

Avery Tweak was really good. Picked up a few for the cellar.

 

I really like the Demise. A solid base stout, just the right amount of bourbon presence, a little sticky and sweet, but for me that's a good thing.

BA MCS is supposed to be this week. But that is going by the sign Copper Kettle had on their door after the bottles sold out. No word from Mile High that I've seen.

 

Agreed that Tweak is an excellent beer, but it seems that the coffee has fallen off a bit in the flavor. I now have all of mine out of the cellar, in the fridge, and plan on drinking them by this fall at the latest. Plus, I seem to remember reading that they plan on releasing Tweak every year. Can anyone confirm?

 

Yep. This was an addition to the Annual Barrel Series family last year along with Pump[KY]n. The label says Batch No. 1 as well.

 

Chain Reaction has four different BA beers available in bottles right now. I haven't tried any of them. Priced $20-25.

Spicy Imperial Irish Stout aged in Tequila Barrels
Belgian Rye Stout aged in Scotch Barrels

Caramel Vanilla Imperial Milk Stout aged in Laws Whiskey House barrels
Caramel Vanilla Imperial Milk Stout aged in Caribbean rum barrels

 

I had no idea they were bottling.

 

Just a heads up, my can was infected... Base beer was just ok/pretty good imo too. Would skip this one.