Speedway Stout - Barrel-Aged Vietnamese Coffee
AleSmith Brewing Company in San Diego, California, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Pastry / Flavoured - Imperial Rotating|
Score
8.47
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Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Can (6/27/24) pour mixed rate from 12/23/24 and 9/20/25. The Liquor Junction, Reading. Opaque, inky black, mild viscosity with thin, light brown head, with poor retention and trace lacing. Aroma is base stout, bourbon (slightly harsh alcohol in 12/24, not so 9/25 and not that present), vanilla, over mellow coffee and mild chocolate. Taste is strong base stout, vanilla, bourbon (slightly harsh 12/24, not super present 9/25), late milder coffee and chocolate. Smooth, creamy texture, soft carbonation, bourbon (harshness) mellows as it sits, late coffee and chocolate finish. Given the name (and pedigree) of the beer, was expecting more coffee, and hoping for less bourbon harshness (both flaws, harshness in 12/24) though good complexity and pleasant late warming. Still quite good but the question for future cans will be how long to wait to let the bourbon mellow before the coffee fades further? 9/25: The answer appears to be sometime be 6 and 15 months.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8
13.6% version. 0,473l can from Drikbeer advent calendar, #8. Canned 06/27/24. Very dark brown beer with medium, but quickly totally vanishing dark brown head. Aroma is coffee, vanilla, chocolate and roasted malts. Flavor follows with woody barrel. Full- body, smooth. Not oily, neither too sweet. Excellent, wonderful balance.
Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 10 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9
16 oz can poured, picked up at Tapped, Mill Creek. Always chasing these variants, but not always rating them, apparently. Definitely had this one over the years, but its never tasted better than it does with this fresh 2024 edition. Canned BA imperial stouts are so rad. Dark, dense, near black pour with the darkest of espresso brown foam. Aroma is mildly sweet. With lots of caramel, cocoa, and bold coffee beans. Trace of a maple note. Smooth taste with the coffee and caramel notes blending well. Doesn't taste hot for its strength. Smooth, and borders dessert, but doesn't ever really get rich. Premier imperial stout here. Imcredible brew.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Draught at Khyber: black with small head. Aroma is loads of coffee, whiskey, soya, vanilla. Taste is loads of coffee, not too sweet, nice barrel aged situation. Deep.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Sampled @ Billie's Craft Beer Fest 2024, Friday. A black beer p, no head. Aroma and Taste of liquorice, strong dark malt, coffee, bourbon, moderate boozy finish.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8
One of the most popular and sought-after variants of AleSmith’s iconic Speedway Stout, departing from the regular recipe but adding ‘cà phê sa đá’, which is a blend of four Vietnamese coffee varieties. The basic beer has been in existence since 2012 and has gained a fixed position in this website’s global top 50; it is still made today, but this review concerns the even higher rated B.A. version. Can at Beerlovers Bar in Antwerp. Thin but stable, pale greyish beige, tiny-bubbled head, opening over a black beer with thin burgundy edges. Intense aroma of coffee – strong high quality espresso, coffee grounds and coffee liqueur – integrated into elements of black chocolate, mocha ice cream, cinnamon, vanilla (also oak wood), bourbon, fig compote, nougat, raisin bread, chocolate sauce made with cognac, blackberry coulis, roasted pecans, treacle, some background bayleaf, salmiak and wet leather. Equally dense and rich in the mouth, opening with sweet dried fig, candied date and raisin but nothing overly sweet, surrounded by a very thin umami edge (teriyaki), moderately carbonated with the expected very full, very oily, thick mouthfeel; fat ‘slabs’ of bitter chocolate, toffee, melting mocha ice cream, brown nut bread crust and toasted hazelnuts – bittersweet and beautifully ‘full’, moving on to full-fledged roasted bitterness, obviously coffee-like in nature but much more so in this variant due to the added coffee, which conveys a powerful, aromatic, spicy coffee aroma retronasally. Peppery hops and peppery bourbon booziness join in but do not clash with this coffee effect at all, instead everything is joined together in a very long, complex, bittersweet, harmonious finish. Both powerful and elegant like most of these Speedway variants, but most of all, lovely in its old-fashioned U.S. way: we are far removed from the exaggerated lactose- or otherwise added sticky sweetness one finds in way too many contemporary strong stouts (including coffee stouts), this is a potent coffee stout like they were indeed made a dozen years ago, so I suspect the 2024 edition I got does not differ much from earlier editions. Justly considered a masterpiece.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
473mL bottle. Pours black with small brown head. Aroma has tons of bourbon and coffee, good roast, and some lactose. Flavour has great bourbon barrel character, lots of roasted malts and coffee. Robust mouthfeel, might be the lactose giving it some extra depth. Excellent.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Can shared by Kyle, thanks! Pours black with a brown head that dissipates to the edges. Aroma has strong dark grains with bitter coffee and a nice bourbon note supporting. Flavor has a nice combination of bourbon and coffee with dark grains and a bit of roast backing.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Poured from the tap @ Alesmith (vintage 2024). Very dark brown with small beige head. Bourbon and oak up front with roast underlay and a very feint hint of coffee. The bourbon overpowers any coffee character here, but very tasty nonetheless.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
16 ounce can from Tavour. 2024 vintage. Jet black pour. Creamy tan cap. Sweet roasted malt aroma. Notes of coffee, vanilla and oak. Flavor is big and boozy. Dark roasted malt, coffee, vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, treacle and oak. Remarkably smooth and complex! What a beer! And a perfect choice for celebrating the New York Yankees winning the 2024 American League Pennant! Yeah!!!!!!