Odell: Barreled Treasure (Spirit Hound Straight Malt Whisky)

My first from Odell somehow.



The label says some of these barrels contained honey?

I've been drinking a ton of sweet beers lately plus I had baklava for dessert tonight. This is dry and tasting niiiice. Pleasant notes of charred barley with hints of oak in the mix, plus burnt brown sugar and light whiskey at the edges. Really good stuff here.

 

Boy, I wish I liked it as much as you did. To me, it was oddly sweet & oddly thin. No roast to speak of. Maybe just an off bottle. Still hopeful for the rest of the box.

 

I did not care for this one. Drank more like a barrel aged brown ale. Barrel flavor wasn't right for me either. Hope others enjoy it more than I did.

 

Maybe unfair that I popped the top on this bottle after I enjoyed a Lagunitas Willettized, but there’s not much to ding a bell about here.

 

Agreed with most of the comments here... thin and sweet. Not bad, but definitely not a favorite.

 

Extreme Beer Box #6 for me. Halfway through the box - where did this week go???
Bottle cellared at 54.3° poured into pint glass Pours very dark brown with a medium tan head. Decent lacing. I get milk chocolate, bourbon, roasted malts, coffee and oak. Kinda sweet, but not objectionably so. Alcohol is quite well hidden. Mouthfeel is smooth and creamy, but a bit on the thin side for a RIS. Finish fades to chocolate and coffee. Liked it a lot, but not best-of-box.

 

I liked this one, got better the longer I drank it:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/267/629216/?ba=bluejacket74#lists




Cheers!

 

Beer #4 from the box. I like this. It’s a well-done, basic, barrel-aged stout. Maybe it’s just a nice break from all of the flavored beers, but it’s got what I’m looking for in this type of beer. It is on the thinner end of the spectrum and there’s some sweetness, but it’s not off the charts. The longer I sit with it, the more interesting it gets. There’s a burnt caramel note, like a crème brûlée crust.

 

Higher ABV% is well hidden, and the beer has a broad enough taste profile, but what is missing is an outstanding flavor hook. Lots of barley and a good bit of vanilla, but the body is smooth but thin. Allowed the body to warm, and found the beer to be missing a reason to come back for more. #1 pull from the box.

 

I had this last year, probably different barrels used for aging, but the result is the same. It's a pretty thin imperial stout. It's not bad, but fairly lackluster, but then, most of Odell's stuff is.

 

Dark pour with a medium amount of head, but the pour is on the thinner side. Aroma is very stout-y with some bourbon notes: kind of a slightly sour roasty nose a bit like Guinness, but with a hint of brown ale. Mouth feel is so so, but a bit thin. In the taste there is initial sweetness like candy sugar followed by a little woodiness or nuttiness. There is some sharpness/bitterness in the finish and maybe also a little hint of chocolate.

 

My 9th sample out of the EBB: Big Stouts. Straight up brown with thin tan head. Smelled like light malts. But the flavor was a little metallic to start. Strange, grainy flavor persisted. I get some sort of off flavors, maybe DMS, maybe a slight umami. Strange. I did not like it, and I’m confused be the reviews that said it was sweet. Really disappointing, actually.

 

not my favorite from the stout box. not a bad beer, but the taste (and particularly the finish of the taste) was a little off tasting to me. not a ton of barrel but it was definitely present.

 

Smoky wood and toffee on the nose.
Taste follows with roasted grain and maybe a touch of vanilla sweetness.
Mouthfeel is smooth, but a bit thin.
Expected something more bold, but not too shabby, I guess.

 

#6 - I enjoy this plenty as a straightforward stout. It is definitely on the thinner side, but quite smooth. Lots of chocolate with some toffee, vanilla, etc. A touch sweet. The woody char is very apparent, though. I like the bitterness. Oh yeah, another dangerous one I wouldn't mind having again. Must slow down.

 

This was an interesting one, I wouldn't have called it a stout if you gave it to me blind. But I did like it! There's an interesting flavour base here that is reminiscent of a really good homemade rootbeer. Just that sharper sweetness with an earthiness to it.

When I scanned the barcode Untappd said they have a horchata version of this beer,

 

A middle of the road pour for a barrel-aged brew, with tan head struggling to puff our its chest, but not fading to the background when this fails to produce the desired effect. The nose is feathery light when cold, but evolves into an unsweet chocolate with a woody vibe accented by American hops.

First sip had something I wasn't expecting, but quite enjoyed as something I didn't know I wanted - a fairly bitter, classic American bitter hop backing the roasted malt opening. The effect isn't as powerful on my second sip, since I was expecting it, but it was still there. The barrel almost gets in the way as it feeds in from the edges, shifting the taste into a less enjoyable metallic phase.

Some spicy vanilla sweetness feeds in as the beer gets warmer, I'm suspecting the barrel effect getting more and more involved. I also start to get some cola, sasparilla, and raisin in varying degrees as I sip.

I think I enjoyed this most in the initial taste when it seemed more like a bitter American imperial stout. I like that even as it seemed to sweeten, it never became sweet. The barrel wasn't obvious, and where I thought I noted it, it wasn't necessarily helping. This is one of those beers than yo-yo'd between interestingly good and oddly iffy, leaning a little bit towards the former for me.

 

I am with those who noted that this tastes more like a BA brown ale than a BA stout. Having said that, I found the barrel treatment here really interesting as it didn't taste like a typical Bourbon to me. There is the use of some barrels that contained honey that imparts a mead-like aspect to the beer. Looking at the Spirit Hound website, I noted that they claim to add a Scottish twist by including some peated malt in the grist. While it doesn't taste like a Scotch barrel aged beer, I think of the barrel flavors as a bit of a cross between Scotch and Bourbon.

I can see why the beer has received a mixed reception, particulalry in a box of heavyweight BA stouts, but I rather enjoyed it once I started to focus on the distinctive barrel impact.

 

Pretty good one here. Easy to drink and didn't pick up any "flaws". Just a decent beer that doesn't really excite too much. Had a nice gentle brown sugar smell. Pleasant molasses taste and a warm boozy if not acrid roastiness on the back end.