When Regular > Barrel Aged

The one first one that jumped out for me was Kuhnhenn 4D. The regular version is sweet molasses perfection, BA was a bit messy. I am going to agree with a bunch of others that were already mentioned:

Peche Mortel
Xocoveza
Bigfoot
Expedition (with the Double Cream caveat)

Makes me not very excited to drink my BA Bomb! now.

 

I certainly like to try barrel aged beers but often I am not impressed. I feel like most barrel aged beers are trying to make beer something it isn't. Like beer needs a bourbon barrel to validate it. If there is a Whiskey or a wine aged in beer barrels, I haven't seen it.
Also, before purchasing a barrel aged beer I check the price of whatever was in the barrel before. If the beer is more expensive than the bourbon, for instance...no way. To give an example that the OP requested, Old Rasputin.

 

Whew...I was starting to think I was the only one. To me, BA stouts are almost always smoother, more blended in flavor, and less harsh. I had BA Bomb saturday at a bottle share and thought it was fantastic. I'm glad I have a couple bottles at home. It's been a year since I had regular Bomb!, but I didn't really care for it.

 

Stone Xocoveza > Charred
SN Narwhal>BA Narwhal
Jackie O's Oil of Aphrodite>Rum Barrel Oil
GL Blackout>BA Blackout

 

I think the fact that I've become a big whiskey drinker makes me enjoy the barrel aged beers all the more and not mind an assertive whiskey presence. Beers that I thought were unbalanced and overwhelmed a few years ago due to a lot of barrel character are much more palatable to me now.

Also it was implied by one poster that breweries BA primarily to make money and I'm not so sure that's true in most cases. The cost of barrels and storage while the beer is aging is significant; I'd be surprised if the barrel programs for most breweries are big money makers when all is said and done.

 

I enjoy both but always prefer the plain jane beer more.

 

Hmm I would have to disagree on Speedway. Yes, regular speedway is coffee stout perfection, but BASS is BA perfection as well.

 

Jai-Alai > White oak Jai-Alai

 

Unless I missed it, I don't think anyone's said Hardywood's Gingerbread Stout, from which the barrel only seems to detract and not add anything.

 

Bomb
Blackout
Tres Blueberry
Narwhal
Bigfoot

 

I wonder if part of it is that people expect the BA version of a given beer to taste the "same" yet at the same time somehow "better"?

 

Depends on which BA Bomb we are talking.

Pirate Bomb! > Bomb! > BA Bomb!

 

Agree with all but siberian night. Good list.

 

Old Rasputin - classic RIS that just takes on way too much of the barrel flavor for me.

Also, not quite in line with the rules, but BCBS Rare, which is an even-more-barrel-aged version of regular BCBS but seemed like a weaker version of the original to me. Less dimension and underwhelming bourbon flavor that I didnt find to be an improvement over the original.

 

Xocoveza. I love Xocoveza. I tried the Charred, and it was bland and boring. It had none of the flavor of the regular beer. So disappointed in it.

 

This.

And surprised to see so much agreement on Bomb. I consider the original pretty one note, almost novelty, and I love the BA version. So much more body and depth.

 

Agreed. Thin and watery body on the Rare, too. You could have convinced me it was a blended bourbon.

 

Seconded. Introduced regular and BBA Pt5 at a bottle share, at the end of the night the regular still had have left. The BBA had four of us competing for the final drops.