Central Waters Brewers Reserve Bourbon Barrel Stout

Brewed by Central Waters Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Amherst, Wisconsin USA

12 oz bottle, via CaptainCougar. Poured a dark brown, almost black. Clear, with a light brown head that faded quickly to a thin ring. Aroma is vanilla and charred oak dominated, with lesser notes of roasted malt and bourbon. Flavor is a perfect balance between roast, espresso, chocolate, and subtle bourbon. Quite a delicate flavor, not a beer that overwhelms your tastebuds. Very little alcohol noted. Body is a little lighter than expected, and a little overcarbonated for my taste. Overall, one of the best bourbon aged beers I’ve had. The bourbon plays an equal role with the base beer.

12oz bottle from CaptainCouger...Pours a very very dark brown color with a big bubbly ligh ttan head. Head is very creamy. I beleive you could count every single bubble that makes up this head. Nose is a very sweet bourbon, quite a bit of vanilla, some light fruit notes, some chocolate as well. very smooth on the palate, more vanilla and some very sweet chocolate here, light bourbon through out, aging seems to be done just right. Finishes with a subtle hint of bitterness and fizz. Palate is a little clingy and light lacing is sporatically left on the glass.

Bottles courtesy of StewardofGondor and 1FastSTi. Pours oily black with no head. Huge vanilla aroma up front with some buttery chocolate and caramel in the background. Flavor again is all vanilla, with some sweet chocolate and roasted coffee, bourbon and coffee fight for the finish. Nice overall, just a little put off by all the vanilla.

Discovered this beer on ratebeer.com’s Top 50 list. Had to search high-and-low to locate it. Once we did the liquor store only had 1.5 cases left out of 3 total. Purchased 3 sixers and for the $10.39 price tag was well worth it. Color was a deep dark brown, with an aroma of vanilla, molasses and bourbon. FInished nicely with an after-taste that didn’t over-power but seemed to linger just long enough. Both aromas and taste seemed to be more pronounced when served only slightly chilled.

Thanks to hezron for this one. Bottle, 2005. Pours dark brown, with a small, tan head. Aromas are vanilla, caramel, bourbon, and lesser amounts of chocolate and malt. Flavors are vanilla, caramel, dark fruit, and bourbon, with chocolate appearing at the end.

Bottle: Courtesy of Ughsmash via trade. Aromas of vanilla, chocolate, molasses, caramel, and bourbon all play an equal part in the nose. The vanilla maybe stands out a tad more than the rest. Pours a dark brown with some orange hilights along the outer edges of the glass when held to the light. Small tan head fades quickly. Lots of vanilla and caramel. Light chocolate in the background. Finishes with a very nice balanced moderate bourbon finish. Very light hints of roasty nuttiness and coffee in the finish. Full bodied and creamy mouthfeel.

Deep, dark brown, almost black beneath a foamy tan head. The aroma was semi-sweet chocolate, Whoppers, vanilla, oak, bourbon, port, roasted coffee in a pleasing blend. Full-bodied and creamy in the mouth. The flavor was a nice blend of the initial aromas. Very enjoyable. This was a great drink.

From a bottle, latest batch. Guess I’ll go against the grain on this one. Its tasty stuff, hides its alcohol well, but nothing that blew me away. Drinkable and inexpensive (what a great combo), but it lacked the complexity one would associate with a Top50 beer. Lots of vanilla on the nose and palate, followed by some spices and the usual stout suspects. Suprisingly sweet, less hoppiness and roastedness than I might have expected. Solid, not overwhelming. GREAT TASTE 2008: This was exceptional on nitro. Nice work, gentelmen