Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout

Almost totally pitch black, just the slightest brownish hue when exposed to the light. Thin cocoa head with pretty good cling.
Oaky, vanilla and lots of fruity, blackberry notes. Boozy overtones reminiscent of a good Whiskey or even a Marc de Bourgogne. Reminds me of Magic Hat’s Feast of Fools.
Weird, on that initial sip, the body felt weak for about half a second but then it totally glazed my tongue like honey on a ham. Just enough oak for my liking, a tiny bit of an acidic twang and some bitter chocolate, with a hot boozy finish. It might even make me want to rethink my misanthropic views about barrel aging just for the sake of barrel aging...If only for stouts!

Thanks to YourDarkLord for bringing this out of his cellar for me to sample. Aroma of coffee, dark hardwood mulch, and molasses. Pours a deep brown with an off white head. Color seemed light for an Impy. Dry oaky flavor, along with maple syrup, nuts, some bourbon. This lacked the body and a lot of dark roasted malt and coffee notes that you find in an imperial stout. Finish was a bit off, as I think this bottle was at the verge of going downhill. Not a bad beer, but I was honestly expecting much more from this. We had BA Speedway and Peche Mortel at this tasting, and this sample was no where in the league with those. I would love to rerate with a fresh sample.

Bottle, complements of the Mighty Slob. Thanks! Pours deep and mysterious, like a moonless night deep in the countryside of Transylvania. I see a mysterious silhoutte approaching; do I dare keep forward, or do I retreat from hence I came? I decide to proceed. This shadowy figure gives off vapors of a fine, barrel-aged bourbon. I’m sensing a rich, dark libation awaiting. I swirl this mysterious liquid only to be bombarded by even more bourbon aromas. I take a sip; my mind explodes in a haze of the memories of spirits past distilled. Oh, the tales they must have to tell! A rich, warming feeling settles within the recesses of my abdomen; I feel peculiarly safe amongst all this uncertainty. A rich rush of thick coffee coats my palate and stains my tongue brown. Oh, this is soooooo bad; yet I cannot resist.

12 oz. bottle via trade with JCapriotti - Pours a brown color with a small light tan head. Light spotty lacing. Has a slight fruit, oak aroma. Flavor is mostly oak. Very little roasted malt or coffee flavoring which you would expect from an IS. Taste more like a toned down BA Barleywine. Still, a good tasting beer. Thanks Jason.

Year-old bottle shared with acertain and derkruk.

Pours brown with a limited head. There’s some sugar on the nose, but it’s mostly all bourbon here without the complexity that I see so often referenced in the other ratings. Instead I get a fairly thin mouthfeel and a flavor that is utterly dominated by the bourbon. The beer is rather sour, slightly salty and leaves me wondering whether this one did not hold up well to the aging process. It seems that I had the beer that ClarkVV describes, not the gem that so many other rates have tasted.

Thanks Brewblackhole! Dark pour. Smell of coffee, malt, caramel, hops and bourbon. Taste of chocolate, roasted coffee, malt, hops and bourbon. Not too strong nor weak. Dry bitterness at the end. Can taste caramel and more alchol as it warms.

One for the brewer and his willingness to make a bold statement. A dark/black thick with little to no head pour. The aroma is heavy with burbon and chocolate. The taste is noteably burbon and quickly turns to a sweet chocolate spice flavor. There is a is an alcohol kick to this brew that stays with you for a while. Best consumed from a Brandy sniffter (have tried straignt from the bottle cold, room temp, frosted glass, frosted glass letting warm, and tap in sniffter). Flavor intensifies as it ages; bought a case and seems to get better with time.

12 oz bottle (thanks to acertain!!) into a Snifter type glass. Pours a very dark brown with a blackish tint to it with basically no head whatsoever. There is also small tiny tan sediment chunks floating around near the bottom of the glass. The nose is almost entirely filled with bourbon and oak with a tiny bit of dark malt escaping beneath the overpowering duo. The flavor comes on surprisingly sweet with a creamy vanillay and chocolately, start which quickly progresses into a very intense oaked bourbon flavor mixed in with a big hunk of coffee (which is mainly overpowered by the bourbon oak). This intense flavor then gets an alcohol kick tossed in the mix, which then finishes with the bourbon, oak, spicey, and alochol kick that lingers for quite a bit. Really an impressive brew! You can definitely begin to feel the 9.5% after drinking it. I would LOVE to find another one of these!! Thanks again Andrew!