Sampled from bottle @ "Het is allemaal de schuld van Koen" tasting. Opaque pitch black color, average sized brown head. Aroma is malts, bourbon, alcohol. Taste malts, bourbon, again quite heavy on the alcohol, quite boozy, roast, liquorice bitter, nice bitter finish. Medium body and carbonation. Nice, but a bit too boozy.

Magnum shared by Adam C on 7/25/15.
Deep, dark, porter-colored liquid (just coined that term) is of indeterminable clarity, though assumedly pretty clear, as Shawn’s non-IPAs usually drop bright. Tan head is good-sized and well-retained.
We had a pretty good discussion about barrel aging while we were all drinking this guy and my position was of this being right on the border of my tolerance (for bourbon apparency). On one hand, the bourbon notes are not harsh/boozey and the barrel itself isn’t heavily tannic, but it’s still quite dominant overall, pushing out a lot of potential beer character in the nose. Spicy bourbon, dry coconut and sweet vanilla are all prominent. Roast takes a backseat, but enough maltiness helps keep it balanced (balanced in the sweet vs. dry sense, not balanced in the bourbon vs. beer character sense). With warming, I did get a bit of fusel/glue-like heat.
Full, soft, luxurious body is definitely a strong point here. The milk chocolate-like flavors of Everett are here dried out by the barrel, producing a more reserved, dark chocolate-like character replete with vanilla from both barrel and malt. Spicy bourbon washes over the palate, as well, and char and coconut are felt, helping to balance the big malt profile. Pleasant enough bourbon flavor and again it’s not sharp or raw (though there’s a touch of heat here, for sure), but I just think it’s a bit too heavy-handed, overall, on the bourbon character. Would prefer significantly less, or better yet, none! Why change Everett, it’s nearly a perfect porter!

50cl bottle pours an oily, murky black with some spitty, off white head. Nose has a whole lot of barrel, char, smoke, some fusel alcohol, a little charcoal, some chocolate and some bready/dopple notes. Flavor has some chocolate sweetness, some burnt caramel, char, some mild vanilla, a little cola, some mild berry. Oily finish. A bit much for me and perhaps too much time in the barrel.

Bottle. Moderate character of bourbon in the flavor and aroma. Very heavy roast, and a thick, heavy palate. A good porter, but unfortunately ruined by bourbon.

13th August 2014
Tasting at Jack’s RAH Annexe! Thanks to Leighton for this one. Opaque dark brown beer, small pale tan head. Palate is light and dry with fine carbonation. Dry and fairly thin dark malts. Spicy alcohol and bourbon. Whisper of oak. Dry finish. This continues to be a curiousity, once again the barreling doesn’t appear to have done much for the lovely base beer. It’s not bad though.