Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout

Bottle provided by my man Styles and the fat guy in a red suit. A supremely deep mahogany colored beer, deep rich ruby only shows though when backlit. Clear. Fast fading light tan head subsides to a ring fairly quickly and leaves little lacing behind. Pleasant aroma, hints of molasses and maple syrupe, moderate chocollate presence. Medium bodied, lightly boozy on the palate. Feels a bit thin at times, perhaps I am looking for too much. RIch chocolate flavor with vanilla notes, moderately tannic. Overall a well done barrel aged beer.

Thanks to Duane for this 12 oz. bottle. Pours dark dark brown with a minimal tan head. Aromas were not overbearingly bourbon, but it was there. Coffee and dark fruit too. Flavor was also nicely balanced with bourbon making a nice appearance, but allowing the roasty coffee and molassas and decent hoppiness come through. Not too viscous either. Very good.

OK, worth the hype. Chewy sweet raisins, very port-like, with a great deal of roasted character make up the solid base beer, which is sensible here, most importantly. Then a smooth layer of bourbonness, never too raw, takes over and melds quite smoothly, with only a hint of raw bourbon in the veeerrry long finish. The aroma is a tad hot with the bourbon, but other than that, this is spot on in every department. Whoever said the base stout could handle this was totally right (I think that’s the gist of notalush, BBB63 and MilkmanDan’s comments). Thanks to Joel for the great sample.

Good. Some roasted malt in the aroma. The beer is black. Mostly sweet, and the bourbon is on the light side. Very smooth and fairly heavy.

Bottle thanks to The Enemy! Pours a hazy brown color with a small off-white head. Aroma is slightly roasty with a touch of alcohol and sweetness to it. Flavor is very strong and needs to age a little bit (will mellow it out). However, very delicious flavor that combines bourbon, sweetness and alcohol with a big mouthful, very smooth as well. This beer was good and imo will be fantastic in about a year.

Dark with a bit of redness to it. Nice use of bourbon here--it’s an addition to the beer instead of just tasting like somebody dropped a shot of cheap bourbon into a crappy stout. Lightly smoky with just the right hint of bourbon sweetness, a bit of roast malt bitterness. Good vanilla notes. Finishes nutty and dry. Were there more bourbon-barreled beers like this, I’d be much happier with the style.

Dark red, almost brown/black. Burbon, bit of chocolate, and some vanilla. Lots of burbon flavours, kind of overrides the rest of it. Strong vanilla extract in coffee taste besides. A bit thin.

Bottle courtesy of hopdog. Pours a deep mahogany with a small tan head. Aroma is nutty(chocolate covered peanuts?) and laden with bourbon notes, wood, and light cocoa. Lots of vanilla creeps through in spots as does chocolate cake notes. Taste is "tamer" than I thought it would be. Lots of vanilla, bourbon, sweet malts, devils food cake, hints of molasses, wood, and light roasty notes. Body is also lighter than expected. It’s bordering on thin with mild carbonation and some slickness to it. Mild alcohol warmth as well. Finishes with more bourbon barrel notes, vanilla, light wood, chocolate, roasty malt notes and some dessert-like sweetness. Good but a little less than what I hoped it would be. Has this changed since the original release?