Barley Johns The Dark Knight (Returns)

Brewed by Barley Johns Brew Pub
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
New Brighton, Minnesota USA

Serve in Shaker, Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Sampled on draft at GTMW 2011. Pours pitch black with brown highlights at the edges. No head. Aroma of dark roasted malts, soy and bourbon. The taste is big bourbon notes and intensely sweet malts. Full bodied. Not my thing.

On tap. Pitch black pour with a small brown head. Awesome aroma of bourbon, vanilla, oak, and more. Amazing flavor of wood, chocolate, coconut, and lingering roast coffee. Awesome flavors and perfect balance. Stellar.

Pours black with a tiny brown head. Aroma is dark berries, dark chocolate, bourbon heaven, toasted coconut, burnt caramel, cocoa beans, vanilla and brown sugar. Taste add some liquorice, roastyness, coffee beans, allmost vinous notes along with coconut, burnt caramel, dark berries, dark chocolate, vanilla, bourbon heaven cocoa beans and brown sugar. Alcohol is there aswell.

Handbottle, 66 cl, filled and traded by MatSciGuy. Pours black with a red hue in the edges, small brown head. Right off the bat, the aroma is just LOADS of bourbon. Vanilla, toasted coconut, oak, just an insanely nice bourbon note throughout the aroma. Dark fruits, dark berries, sweet blueberries and a velvety chocolate feel, brown sugar (farin), burnt caramel. Insane aroma! Taste is full bourbon up front, coconut, vanilla, huge oak. Dark chocolate, coffee beans and a lot of liquorice. The mouthfeel is just huge. There is of course a lot of alcohol, but it blends in really nicely. A pretty fukkin delish beer, barrel aging brings out some amazing qualities.

Thanks goes to Chris (spycow) for this one! Poured into Bruery tulip. A - Pours black, minimal head, some bubbles here and there, no lace or retention. S - Big booze, molasses, dark fruits, burnt sugars. Lots of booze, and at 12%, it’s not surprising. T - Booze, booze, and more alcohol. Dark fruits, oak, slightly sweet/big booze finish. M - Full body, rich, light carbonation, creamy finish. O - Very hot and needs some more time before really hitting its prime, in terms of taste. It would be nice to age this one for a while, but it’s hard to do considering the vessel and how fast it goes. Good, but not outstanding.

64 ounce growler, this was a top want for awhile and i gave up alot for it. Pours a jet black with very little head. only a bit of carbonation. aroma is bourbon booze, dark fruits, chocolate. taste is earthy booze, dark fruits, chocolate, and hops.syrupy and a hard drinker. a great beer which i think was worth it

growler courtesy of ty, thanks a ton for getting me this long time top want! wow! woof! beastial! this is a true crusher of a beer with a massive spirit profile. absolutely massive. the flavor is great, and despite being hot as hell it actually drinks very well for how high abv it is, which is much more than 13 this year, i was hearing this is actually 18%. wild beer. its tastes like jim beam for sure, but drinks very fast and the base porter just bartely eeks out a balance from the boozy chaos. i really wish it had more carbonation, it definitely detracts from the appearance and moiuthfeel. beer is nearly flat, just the faintest carb present in the mouth, no head on the pour. there is enough left to rouse the beer in your mouth and get a creamy mouthfeel from the brew. while very boozy and under carbed, it reminds me a lot of ba speedway and some of the other big whale bourbon bombs. definitely a world class beer, def on par with ba alesmiths, black ops, etc.

Hm. A difficult beer to wrap my hands around. First off, it perfectly hits the mouthfeel, oily and thick and almost like drinking an excellent scotch. Thing is, the nose and the aroma also hit scotch, and aren’t nearly so stellar. At moments the beer is fudgy, chocolatey goodness with only whispers of oak and booze, but it’s just so damn hot most of the time that I am confused and given pause. Hits you like an absolute jackhammer; the first couple sips are pretty awesome, but I cannot in good faith rate this particularly highly. Just about as undrinkable as beer gets without tasting downright horrible.

64oz, perfect sealed growler courtesy of guerde. thanks so much, andy! super stoked to finally get a crack at this monster of a beer and it certainly did not disappoint. pours a ridiculously viscous, slick, obsidian black with a thin, whispy, quickly fading mocha head that leaves a razor thin ring of lace. aroma is an absolute assault of decadence with rich, oaked bourbon, spices, and dark chocolate fudge backed by roasted malts, molasses, and toasted coconut with subtle hints of dark fruit and trail mix. flavor is stunning as well with a blast of spicy, woody, warming bourbon up front that settles out smoothly into fudge brownies, roasted malts, coffee, and hints of vanilla with notes of oak and dark fruits on the finish. palate is huge and rich with smooth carbonation and a massive, woody, bourbon finish with notes of dark chocolate. overall, and absolutely massive brew that reaches the upper eschelon of barrel aged beers i’ve ever tasted.

growler @RBSG shared by Brad?-pours a disappearing brown head and black color. Aroma is bourbon/anise/molasses-dark malt, secondary earthy, sweet dark fruit. Taste is bourbon/anise/molasses-dark malt, secondary earthy hops bite, sweet dark fruit.