Grass Widow Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Milkshake Stout
Rochester Mills Beer Co. in Rochester, Michigan, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Imperial Rotating Out of Production|
Score
7.20
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This is an imperial version of our famous milk stout, aged in Bourbon whiskey barrels for over a year, resulting in a hugely complex brew with signature roasted flavors, hints of oak and a pleasant rich finish.
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8.4/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8.5
16 ounce can into snifter, best before 11/28/2019. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a small fairly dense tan head with poor retention, that reduces to nothing eventually. Minimal lacing on the glass, with some light streaming carbonation. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, cream, bourbon, coconut, fudge, marshmallow, toasted oak, roasted nuts, biscuit, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coffee, licorice, raisin, fig, date, smoke, oak char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/oak/toasted earthiness. Slightly increasing booze in the aromas as it warms, but not overwhelming. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts, lactose, cocoa, and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, cream, bourbon, coconut, fudge, marshmallow, toasted oak, roasted nuts, biscuit, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of raisin, fig, date, smoke, oak char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/oak/toasted earthiness. Very mild herbal, grassy, roast bitterness; and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, cream, bourbon, coconut, fudge, marshmallow, toasted oak, roasted nuts, biscuit, dark/brown bread, coffee, licorice, dark fruit, smoke, oak char, leather, tobacco, herbal, grass, pepper, and yeast/roast/oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, lactose, cocoa, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a nice roast/hop bitter/sweet and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying, acrid, astringent flavors after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/roast bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, cream/silky/velvety/bready, and slightly slick/sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mild increasing warmth of 13.25%, and lingering barrel booze after the finish. Overall this is a fantastic barrel aged imperial milk/sweet stout. All around fantastic complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts, lactose, cocoa, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV, with with mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish. Perfectly balanced rich malts, cocoa, lactose, and bourbon barrel presence/integration. Not overly boozy, tannic, or drying on barrels. One of the smoothest stouts I've had for the ABV, as with the base beer. Quite a bit bitter than the base version, as it was aged over a year in barrels, and was definitely richer. A highly enjoyable offering, and amazing style example. Reminds me of Black Tuesday a bit on the barrel presence, but less boozy.
Tried
from Can
on 06 Apr 2019
at 04:30