Anderson Valley Port Barrel Stout

Brewed by Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Style: Stout
Boonville, California USA

Serve in English pint, Shaker, Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

(draft) Black body topped by lovely creamy brown head. Aroma is medium sweet, port, roasty chocolate, light cherry (sour). Taste is medium sweet, port, sour cherry, finishing with roasty chocolate. Medium body. Interesting mix of flavors, not sure it wholly works.

Tap at the Davis Graduate. Pours black with a little head. Sour, vinous aroma. Full bodied, sour, portish, turning a bit towards sweet burnt malt. All kinds of things - even ash I think. Finishes rather sour. Very interesting. Extremely good ale.

A: The pour is dark brown in color with a rather tall tan head. S: Nicely tart from the dark fruit and port aromas. There’s a fair bit of oak and wine along with a nice sweetness to go with a mild roast and dark chocolate character. Seems to be a strong graham cracker note. T: Sweet wine/port flavors abound. Plenty of oak to it as well. The roast is somewhat mild and instead the more dominant flavors are dark fruits and sweet graham crackers. Light chocolate notes, perhaps some hints of caramel. M: Medium bodied with low to medium carbonation. O: This is such a solid beer. I’m not always the biggest port or port barrel aged beer fan, but this is good stuff.

Draft. Black beer with a small light tan head. Musty, light earth aroma with lots of fruit and rich malt. Malt and rich winey fruit flavor. Medium bodied. Red wine and malt lingers with light darker malts.

On tap at Toronado. This black ale poured with a thin beige head and a sour aroma. It has a wine-like flavor with a roasted malt finish. It’s a bit too thin ,but otherwise pretty good.

Draft at Monks... Poured an opaque black color with a small tan head and hardly any lacing. Aroma of strawberry and cherry, very portish, light roast as well. Port was very pronounced, over took any idea this was once an oatmeal stout. Some roast and chocolate was noticed in the finish. A very nice stout, though I like the pre-barrel aged oatmeal stout just a tad better.

Draft. Pours deep brown with a beige head. Big port barrel/vinous/dark fruity/woody notes, with lighter roasted malts and milk chocolate. A too much time in the barrel.

On tap at Apex in Portland, split with Matts_Property, pours a red-tinged black with minimal head. Aroma of port, sweet liqueurs and vanilla. Flavour brings out incredibly sour port barrels with a vinous quality. The sourness is not pleasing, hinting at something gone wrong. Barely drinkable.

Draft at barcade with max, zack, pearl, blipp and Tom. Pours a deep brownish black with head or lacing. Aroma is sweet, rich port wine. Mouthfeel is thin, almost watery with notes of port, oak, dark fruits, and "acidic twang." (thanks max)

For lucky review #777, time to finally review the notorious, elusive Anderson Valley 7-Year Port Barrel Aged Oatmeal Stout. Bottle #122 of 150 picked up the day after the Boonville Beer Fest, waiting several hours at the brewery much to the annoyance of my girlfriend who wanted to go home and wash the mud from the rainy fest off her. Black color with a small, wispy light beige head. Great musty aroma of port, chocolate, vanilla, and berries. Flavor fell a bit short - chocolate, roasted malt, and wood were a bit overwhelmed by a somewhat jarring tart vinous/port flavor. Good but not as well-balanced and smooth as I’d like. Palate somewhat creamy with low carbonation. Overall I feel like this is a bit too much age for a stout like Barney Flats. AV brews a good imperial stout, and if they would up the gravity of that a little more (up to about 12-13% ABV) and then put it through the same aging process, that beer could be pretty legen...wait for it...dary!