One of my favorite styles of beer is the bourbon barrel aged stout. To be honest, it's really tough to find good quality bourbon barrel stouts, short of the yearly Bourbon County Brand Stout release.
This is an example of a good bourbon barrel stout, though not 100% for the reason of being bourbon barrel aged.
Cassian Sunset is a "Stout aged in used oak bourbon barrels with coffee, vanilla beans, and cinnamon added", brewed by Central Waters brewing company in Amherst, Wisconsin.
It pours a dark brown - not quite the black I was expecting. I put the flashlight to the back of the glass and could see a reddish light through the back of it.
On the nose I'm getting lots of caramel, raisin, and cinnamon - some of the caramel sweetness, I'm sure, is the malt playing with the vanilla bean. Not getting any particularly strong bourbon or coffee scents.
First sip: all of these flavors work well with each other. And it's not particularly overly sweet - in fact it's one of the less sweet bourbon barrel stouts I've had. Vanilla and raisin up front with drier cinnamon and black coffee in the back. Fairly smooth. A little thin for my likes, but the flavor is good.
To be honest, probably would have guessed this was a dark Belgian ale or American style barleywine based both on the taste (kind of getting some stout malt qualities, but they're not exceptionally prominent), thickness, and looks.
In the end, a solid offering. I think had this beer been thicker, all of the flavors would have been accentuated and it would have brought the beer together better. An imperial milk stout/oatmeal might have been a better choice for the base to age in those barrels with those adjuncts - again a lot of this is personal preference.
Overall Rating: 8.8/10
This is an example of a good bourbon barrel stout, though not 100% for the reason of being bourbon barrel aged.
Cassian Sunset is a "Stout aged in used oak bourbon barrels with coffee, vanilla beans, and cinnamon added", brewed by Central Waters brewing company in Amherst, Wisconsin.
It pours a dark brown - not quite the black I was expecting. I put the flashlight to the back of the glass and could see a reddish light through the back of it.
On the nose I'm getting lots of caramel, raisin, and cinnamon - some of the caramel sweetness, I'm sure, is the malt playing with the vanilla bean. Not getting any particularly strong bourbon or coffee scents.
First sip: all of these flavors work well with each other. And it's not particularly overly sweet - in fact it's one of the less sweet bourbon barrel stouts I've had. Vanilla and raisin up front with drier cinnamon and black coffee in the back. Fairly smooth. A little thin for my likes, but the flavor is good.
To be honest, probably would have guessed this was a dark Belgian ale or American style barleywine based both on the taste (kind of getting some stout malt qualities, but they're not exceptionally prominent), thickness, and looks.
In the end, a solid offering. I think had this beer been thicker, all of the flavors would have been accentuated and it would have brought the beer together better. An imperial milk stout/oatmeal might have been a better choice for the base to age in those barrels with those adjuncts - again a lot of this is personal preference.
Overall Rating: 8.8/10
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