AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

Brewed by AleSmith Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
San Diego, California USA

Serve in Snifter

Black with a small tan head. Aroma of coffee and roasted malt, with hints of licorice and vanilla. Sweet dark flavour of coffee, licorice, roasted malt and caramel, with a touch of alcohol. Hints of oak before a slightly ash finish

Bottle @ Hallinghansens US Tasting, Odense. 2009. Pours dark black with a creamy beige head and lacings. Oak, vanilla, coffee roast and chocolate. Smooth and soft. Harmonic and balanced. Straight forwarded - truly incredible drinkability. Really tasty. This ain’t even hyped! Wow!

Bottle at hallinghansen giant tasting. Hold da kæft! Thanks Jacob! Its pitch black with a creamy tan head. The aroma is coffee, vanilla, oak, toasted caramel, hard roasted malt and chocolate. The flavour is hard roasted malt, chocolate, vanilla, coffee and light ash. Great balance.

Old Review from 2010. Poured from a growler - BA Speedway pours well you guessed it, pitch black. Not much head is formed. Small lacing of tan head around the glass. Now with a lot of barrel aged brews, you’re punched in the nose with whatever barrel the brew was aged in. In this case it’s bourbon but you’re not really punched in the face by it here. It’s definitely there but I feel like this might be the best mixture and balance I have ever seen in a barrel aged brew. The bourbon didn’t have to fight with the amazing espresso, dark chocolate, vanilla, and molasses. This is a complex brew but like I said this is the most balanced version of a barrel aged beer I have ever smelled. Taste is just like the smell. The bourbon might of been a little more active here but it’s still balanced pretty much perfectly. The dark chocolate lingers on the palette but then the slighty burnt espresso comes in and washes it away. The brew ends with vanilla, brown sugar, and some dark fruit. I just can’t explain how damn nice this beer is. If I had to drink one beer for the rest of my life this might just be it. The mouthfeel is medium bodied, oily, and sticks on the lips. Low carbonation, smooth, and creamy.

pours a dark brown almost black. Aroma is cocoa and coffee. Very thick palate and toasty coffee malt flavor followed by heat and molasses.

HUGE thanks to Kramer for busting out one of my all time wants for us to try. 2004 Bottle, number 120 / 228. A - Pours black as night with a nice one finger tall mocha colored head leaving light lace down the glass. Not the prettiest beer but it is stil plenty serviceable. S - Smells of rich coffee, milk chocolate, vanilla, oak, and warm bourbon. For being seven, going on eight, years in the bottle this one has held up beautifully, still plenty of coffee to go around. T - Starts off with a big dose of fresh brewed coffee slowly giving way to a mix of chocolatey sweetness, vanilla, oak, tobacco, and warm bourbon. Even with all those flavors going on it remains balanced, smooth and easy drinking. Finish has lots of dark roast, lingering on the pallet for some time. A touch of oxidation creeps in as it warms up but it doesn’t really affect the taste at all. M - Heavy body and flavor with moderate carbonation. Full, smooth, feel with plenty of dark roast, lingering on the pallet for quite awhile after consumption. O - Damn, this is easily one of the best Barrel Aged stouts I have ever had. The balance of dark flavors from the base beer blend flawlessly with the barrel aging to form one amazing beer. I can not thank to enough Kramer for the chance to try this one.

750ml bottle - Herring Creek beer tasting

It’s been awhile since I had a beer this stunning. I’ve had the opportunity to have the regular Speedway and it’s always a pleasure to consume, but this is a showcase of what barrel aging can do to an already fantastic beer.

The beer pours out a basically perfect pour. At least a perfect pour to me. Completely black, dense light brown head, long lasting. An aroma just bursting at the seams with depth and complexity. Notes of bourbob, wood, anise, toffee, brown sugar, roastd malts, Tootsie Rolls, malt balls, milk chocolate, molasses...incredible.

The flavor profile echoes the aroma, but the intensity of the flavor is unmatched. Alcohol is much more present in the flavor (as expected) than the aroma, but even then it mixes well with the other flavors. Everything is so damned well balaced it’s amazing. Mouthfeel is oily, creamy, dense. The beer just coats and clings to the glass and mouth like no other beer I’ve had before.

Simply put, this beer has everything that I want and look for in an imperial stout. It’s created amazingly well, and the time it spent in the bourbon barrel worked incredibly well. I cannot recommend this beer, if you can find it, enough.

Thanks to John for sharing this! Pours black as coal with a nice halo of brown head. Smell: bourbon, vanilla, coffee, tobacco, chocolate, licorice and some oak. Taste: coffee, vanilla, chocolate, bourbon, oak, big roasted notes, tobacco and licorice. Thick and chewy palate and a long roasted coffee and bourbon finish.