Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout

Slight aroma of coffee and vanilla with a touch of bourbon smoke. Pours a dark black with about half an inch of tan head that leaves good lacing on the glass. The taste is a bit tart with a touch of bourbon and smoked malts. Not bad, but not what I was expecting.

(bottle thanks Badgerben) Pours brown with an off-white head. Aroma is predominately bourbon. Taste is pretty much bourbon with some slight roasted malt coming through on the finish. Not really complex.

Bottle: Dark brownish-black pour with a small cream halo. Notes of chocolate, dark roasted malts, vanilla bean, brown sugar and a ridiculous amount of bourbon permeate the nose. Massive bourbon-oak flavor throughout with some of the chocolate malt flavors coming through along with some vanilla. Quite good but a bit too bourbon dominant.

[Bottle, thanks Badgerben] Pours dark brown with a small tan head. Aroma is bourbon--a lot of bourbon. Taste has something a little odd, then some roasted malt, and of course, bourbon. Fairly thin. Quite carbonated. Not that amazing, too much bourbon for me.

GABF ’07. Pours black with an average, creamy, lasting, light brown head, fair lacing. Aroma is average malt (cookie, caramel, chocolate), light hops (grass), average yeast (dough, leather) with notes of bourbon. Medium bodied, creamy texture, soft carbonation and a bitter finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness, light acidity and bitterness.

12oz bottle thanks to Ughsmash. Sweey bourbon and coffee nose, sweet milk chocolate note, with moderate yeast apparency. Sweet but rich and delicious bourbon up front, then more sharp and acidic over the middle, finishing a bit lactic and sour, but still with a hefty dose of bourbon, though it’s a bit too sweet. Still, good stuff.

Thanks to footbalm for the bottle. Deep brown pour with a smallish head. Aroma is caramel-toffee chews and butter with a bit of bourbon and vanilla. The bourbon is nicely blended in the taste, but there’s way too much diacetyl. I don’t see a lot of people mentioning this, so it must be a unique bottle. Need to re-rate eventually.

(Bottle) So many of these barrel-aged gimmicky crap money grabbing micro behaving like macro whores kinda cheap lowly self loathing coulda been another homemade baloney sandwich on brown bread for lunch beers - but its not. Delicately balanced. Fruity, raisiny mixed with a flemish sour so grampa’d lose his teeth in real flavour. I finally found a barrel-aged beer that works. I cannot remember if this is a premium price but I’d be happy to sample it again if it cost around $5. Good on ya, Central Waters!