Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout
Griffin Claw Brewing Company in Birmingham, Michigan, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Imperial Rotating Out of Production|
Score
7.30
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
22oz bottle pours out dark cola brown topped with a small tan head. Nose is sweet malts chocolate bourbon barrel vanilla notes. Taste is more of the nice sweet chocolate bourbon barrel booze vanilla and plenty roast.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Pours dark brown, edging on black. Aroma has some deep chocolate, thick with cocoa and dark fruits. Not getting too much of bourbon here though. Tastes are masterfully balanced, big beer that drinks easy. Balanced, barrel not too intrusive but sitting nicely there in the background. Slight woodiness. Great stuff, thanks Gregg!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9
Pitch black color, dark brown head. Huge bourbon, vanilla, oak and dark fruit. Fucking amazing nose. Very smooth, low carbonation in the mouth, mildly sweet, bourbon is so well integrated, dark chocolate, vanilla a bit of molasses. Heavenly. Just the smoothest beer.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Flight at the tap room. Black pour with a small tan head that leaves some lace. Nose is dominated by bourbon with roasted malt, coffee and chocolate. Sweet chocolate with bitter coffee and pronounced wood and bourbon Medium creamy mouth with soft carbonation.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
750 ml bottle into snifter; 2013 vintage bottling, listed at 12% on the bottle. Pours dense pitch black color with a 1-2 finger dense dark tan head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a light amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee, toast, vanilla, coconut, bourbon, oak, brown sugar, light nuttiness, and oak/toasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roasted malt and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of big milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee, toast, vanilla, coconut, bourbon, oak, brown sugar, light nuttiness, light raisin, and oak/toasted earthiness. Slight roast/oaky bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, toffee, toast, vanilla, coconut, bourbon, oak, brown sugar, light nuttiness, light raisin, and oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Very nice robustness and complexity of dark/roasted malt and bourbon barrel flavors; with a good malt/barrel balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very smooth, fairly creamy, and slightly slick mouthfeel that is good. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a light warming present after the finish. Overall this is a very nice barrel aged imperial stout. All around good complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roasted malt and bourbon barrel flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the big ABV. It was not as roasty as I expected for a stout, but had a lot of nice barrel and malt complexity; and was very enjoyable overall.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 6 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 6.5
Draft in a snifter. Nice, dark opaque black. Funky vanilla/caramel aroma. Nice try, but the combination of bourbon/vanilla/oak taste didn’t really work for me.