Carlyle Bourbon Barrel Blueberry Stout

Brewed by Carlyle Brewing Company
Style: Sweet Stout
Rockford, Illinois USA

Serve in English pint

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Draught sample at the brewpub in early October 2006. Quite dark though not pitch-black, with a dark brown head that bubbles quite a bit and then dissipates....blueberries and bourbon-vanilla meld strangely in the nose, an odd funkiness ensues, like rotting fruit in an old barn, but as it warms a fresher quality takes over with sort of a liquor-cream frosting, all in all quite a complex and interesting aroma....alas this suffers much the same fate on the tongue as the regular bourbon stout, just too boozy and unbalanced though in this case the fruit helps kick the flavor up a notch and the berry acids seem to cut the bourbon’s oily sweetness a bit....it works on the whole but would profit from a lighter hand I think.

tap at brewpub-black with a nice froathy tan head. bourbon and chocolate abundant in the nose. a little fruit as it warmed. flavors are sweet with light chocolate, bourbon, and light blueberry as it warmed. the blueberry was not all that strong. it may have been before the barrel aging. Light vanilla on the finish. well balanced and well done. Light anise on the finish. I dig!