AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
San Diego, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle #44. Wow! This is one amazing beer. Deep black color with a small light brown head. Huge aroma, full of chocolate, coffee and bourbon. Huge, perfect flavors of chocolate, bourbon, coffee. I can feel the alcohol more than I can taste it. Very thick, creamy feel with the perfect amount of carbonation. Truely amazing! "If you have the means, I highly recommend it."-Ferris Bueller

Thanks to Deathcharms for this gem. This was on the top of my wants list after I first tried the original speedway stout. Here it goes. The nose was incredible with tons of bourbon and vanilla backed up with some chocolate, coconut, a touch of roast and more sweet vanilla notes. Wow. Such an inviting mix of aromas all balanced out to be equally noticeable. Pour is as expected. Black with a tan head. Viscous looking too. Taste wise there are lots of flavors I got from this. Obviously, there was a ton of bourbon and vanilla with chocolate, roast, raisin, molasses, and plum. No detection of alcohol at all. Such a good beer to just sit back and enjoy. Too good. Hopefully I’ll get to try another vintage of this beer some day.

2009 vintage - Thanks to OmegaX, I finally got to try this beer. It looks just like the non-BA version but with a darker head. A first whiff reveals a huge bourbon boquet with a complex cherry and coffee aroma - vanilla is all over the place! The mouth feel is smooth and creamy. Notes of bourbon and oak tickle the senses. Undertones of milk chocolate, vanilla and mellow roasted coffee complete the well-defined layers of flavor. Obviously a sipper, the 12% is completely undetectable - truly a superb beer.

Poured into a snifter. 2009 vintage, which was released in 2011. 4.5 A: Black color. Two fingers of creamy light brown head. Retention is very good for a brew this big and a sizeable ring of lacing is left. 4.5 S: As expected, there isn’t a whole hell of a lot of coffee left in this. There is some coffee, but it might just be coming from the base stout. Lots of chocolate and molasses. Caramel and a touch of smoke to follow. The bourbon is a bit softer than I was expecting, but I’m not disappointed since the base beer is more than solid. Leathery with melon and apple fruitiness. Light oak and enough vanilla to please. 4.0 T: The taste is very good, but it seems like the bourbon is now carrying the beer instead of the opposite found in the nose. Leather, vanilla, melon, smoke, light spiciness, oak, and bourbony booze predominate. Chocolate, molasses, caramel, and coffee from the stout. Don’t get me wrong, this is borderline 4.5. 4.5 M: Medium, borderline heavy body. Good moderate carbonation. Nice creaminess. No qualms here. 4.5 D: Very tasty beer, but I wish it was easier to get. It takes a lot to pull this in a trade, so in the future I’ll resign myself to obtaining BCSs, CBS, and BA Boris. That said, I’m happy I traded for this because it is a great beer and something everyone should try. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 03-30-2012 22:16:48

@HallingHansen tasting, thanks for sharing. Pours black with a light brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, chocolate, liquorish, oak, vanilla and coffee. Flavour is roasted malt, alcohol, chocolate, liquorish, oak, vanilla and coffee.

Rating #2300. Vintage 2009, split with manuchampions and uhlan. Pours black with a small-to-medium light brown / tan head. Aroma of espresso beans, bourbon and wood, vanilla beans and not too boozy. Flavour is essentially just the regular Speedway Stout, but with a more prominent woody character - just as much espresso, but slightly obscured by the barrels and subtle vanilla quality. Finishes with vanilla and bourbon, and a slight boozy burn. Surprisingly easy to drink for a big barrel aged imperial stout. Delicious and superior to the original by a little bit. I’m glad I went out of my way to obtain this.

From notes. The full black color, long lasting tan cap, and high viscosity on BA Speedway definitely signals the brewers intention to make a thick, rich, and complex imperial stout. For me, there is too much bourbon in the aroma and flavor, stifling one of my favorite base beers. The bourbon and oak actually dry out the mouthfeel and pull some of the smoothness out of the flavor. Chocolate, bitter roasted malt, and a little bit of coffee step in behind the bourbon. It is a little bit acrid at the end of each sip. As it warms up a little bit, I get some vanilla, oak, and milky sweet notes. I would suspect that some of the off-putting bitter coffee and malt notes and the acrid mouthfeel come from the old coffee. Since this was a 2009 bottle, the coffee has significantly faded and could have left behind the old coffee taste that I have observed in a number of aged coffee stouts. BA Speedway is still enjoyable nonetheless, but this bottle does not do justice to how delicious fresh Speedway Stout is.

2009 vintage, big thanks to Pat for the trade. The smell is just wonderful. Bourbon presence but not overpowering. Very sweet vanilla mixing with the bourbon and some good amounts of coffee make this smell outstanding. The taste is really smooth and adds up with the nose. There is the marshmallow character that only comes out in the best of barrel aged beers and the vanilla. The coffee is there but its not overpowering. It taste like a dank day old press coffee and its killer! I need another bottle of this for sure.

Bottle with friends. We tasted 2003, 2005, and 2011 vintages. This is a slight combination of all, but mostly reviewing the newest vintage. Deep brown appearance with a dark brown head. Sweet, dark, toasty chocolate malty, woody, black licorice aroma. Sweet dark chocolate, vanilla, marshmallow, oaky, sweet licorice flavor.

UPDATED: MAR 11, 2012 6/III/2012 75cl bottle @ De Hopduvel (Gent) - 2009 vintage (2012-217) Thanks to BoBoChamp for sharing the bottle!

Very dark brown beer, no head. Aroma: very vinous, red wine, caramel, mocha, vanilla, sour berries, ripe cherries, bourbon. MF: no carbon, medium to full body. Taste: mocha and coffee, bourbon, red wine, caramel, dark chocolate, dried red fruits, vanilla, alcohol. Aftertaste: more vanilla, bourbon, caramel, dark chocolate, dried red fruits, vanilla, alcohol. Aftertaste: more vanilla touches, bourbon, dark caramel, coffee, some liquorish, red wine, bit sugary, cocoa powder. Pretty impressive stuff. Wouldn’t be able to finish a pint, though.

I said it would never happen, that nothing would ever beat the J&J Oude Gueuze Blauw. But it happened. This is the perfect beer for me. I feel like a bit of a wanker, because I’d like to be all effete, and pretend that I’m "so past Imperial Stout" but FUCK ME THIS WAS AMAZING!!! First off, huge thank to nbutler11, who remembered from a drunken conversation at RBWG that the BA Speedway was my most-wanted beer, and then sent me one, not asking the moon, but rather "just send me something". Thats... That’s just something I don’t have words for right now... It would be like generous, but generous isn;t even in the same league... here to begin with this one: Pours Opaque black, Opqaue deliberatey capitalized back there becuse light CANNOT pierce this stuff. The head is a very persistent dark tan, which just lingers, and lingers... Nose is creamed coconut, brandy beans, not even a suggestion of alcohol, just loads of vanilla, fresh-roast coffee, and layers of chocolate. Flavours are rather stunning as well: In my handwritten notes, I use the word "unfathomable" which I’m fairly certain is a first. Cream, cocoa, coconut, fudge, toasty barrel, French toast. I really never thought I would be so sure about a beer as to give it a 5, but here we are. "0The celestial ejaculate upon the bosom of Heaven." This is also in my handwritten notes. Underlined. Twice.