River's Edge Brewing Company Dirty Frank: Bourbon Barrel-Aged w/ Vanilla

Dirty Frank: Bourbon Barrel-Aged w/ Vanilla

 

River's Edge Brewing Company in Milford Charter Township, Michigan, United States 🇺🇸

  Stout - Smoked Rotating
Score
7.04
ABV: 6.7% IBU: - Ticks: 1
Our Award winning Dirty Frank Stout Aged in bourbon barrels with vanilla to add a bit more roguishness to this full-bodied ale made with English mild and brown malts, rye, smoked malt and molasses. If you thought Dirty Frank was one bad mother, shut your mouth and get a load of this - roasty and chocolatey with a rounded, smooth finish that is hinted with oak char and rye spice.
 

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7.8/10 Appearance 8 Aroma 7 Flavor 8 Texture 8 Overall 8
22 ounce bottle into signature tulip glass, bottled on 3/4/2019. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 2 finger fairly dense and rocky khaki head with great retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice dense foamy lacing clings on the glass, with a good amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of coconut, licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. A bit too fruity/yeasty aromas, but not overwhelming. Very slight touch of sour cherry note, maybe. A little infection only noticeable in the nose. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast/vanilla notes; with solid strength. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, and dark bread/crust; with lighter notes of coconut, licorice, molasses, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, grassy, peppery, roast, char bitterness; and rye, bourbon, oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, roasted nuts, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, toasted oak, spicy rye, biscuit, dark bread/crust, licorice, molasses, dark fruit, smoke, charcoal, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast/vanilla flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet, and bourbon/oak/rye spiciness balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from lingering hop/char bitterness, rye/bourbon/oak spiciness, and carbonation. Medium-high carbonation and medium-plus body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is great. Zero warming alcohol or barrel booze for 6.7%. Overall this is a very nice barrel aged flavored export stout. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready/rye malt, molasses, bourbon barrels, light-moderate earthy hops, and light fruity yeast/vanilla flavors; very smooth and easy to drink with the modestly bitter/spicy/tannic/drying finish. Nicely soft and not overly bitter/charred. Balanced rich malts, and barrel presence/integration; with nice hop presence, and restrained fruity yeast. Mildly sweet with lingering crisp dryness. A very enjoyable offering, and well made English style example as expected. Feels like these recent variants were packaged prematurely from the carbonation. This was the only one that had a mild infection note, but was likely just the English yeast character. Was hoping for more vanilla presence, tastes like the base beer mostly.
Tried from Bottle on 30 Sep 2019 at 09:59