3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 17/20
Draft. Black beer with a tan head. Sour, fruity aroma. Sour and light acetic flavor with fruitiness and chocolate. Medium bodied. Sour and light acetic notes linger with chocolate and fruit.
3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
On tap at the Barrel House. This one straddled the line between great and terrible, both of which I tasted at the barrel house that afternoon. Sour ales often straddle that seemingly wide line with flavors that when in subtlety can be amazing, but in larger quantities can be gag inducing. This one is an imperial chocolate milk stout aged in bourbon barrels since 06. Shockingly, I don’t pick up much bourbon at all in the nose or the flavor. There is some chocolate and an abundance of tart fruit and mild vinegar. The flavor is tart and very acetic with the stout qualities almost completely outdueled, but there is an odd nuttiness and roasted malt flavor in the very finish that offsets it a tad. Overall, this was an unbalanced vinegar bomb, but still interesting with the hints of stout. I would have liked it better the other way around.
3.6 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
On tap. Pours with a black body with a medium sized tan head that sticks around and leaves good lacing. Aromas of brown sugar, molasses, toffee, fudge, bourbon, vinous, esters, raisins, dakr fruits, wet wood, acetic acid, and mildly lactic. Tons of vanillin. Huge barrel notes. Flavors are sour, very acetic/vinegary. Tastes huge, some fusel, toffee, fudge, nail polish, bourbon. Really big. Cherry, vinous, splinters. Long duration. A bit harsh and unrefined but still quite tasty and interesting. Very warming (I have a hard time believing that it is only 8%. Medium bubbles with some acetic burn on the finish.
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