Great Crescent Bourbon Barrel Stout

Brewed by Great Crescent Brewery
Style: Stout
Aurora, Indiana USA

Serve in English pint

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On Tap at the Brewery for Farmers’ Fair 2011. Aroma of dark chocolate, vanilla, coffee, and a bit of oak. Appearance was pitch black with well carbonated mocha head. Flavor is very roasty and chocolatey with a slightly bitter coffee finish. Palate is bubbly. Quite nice.

Sample shared by another patron at the Twelve Percent Imports tasting at Ale Wine & Spirits on 4/20/12. Black pour with a medium tan head. Aroma of chocolate, roast and light alcohol. Chocolate and a bit of a smoky flavor before a roasty and boozy finish.

16 ounce can. Served in a pint glass, the beer pours dark brown/black with a huge brown head. This can was a gusher, so I had to wait for a while for it to settle down to get the whole can poured into the glass. Head retention and lacing are both decent. Aroma is nice and malty. It smells like roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, and some light vanilla and bourbon. It’s a nice smelling beer, but for a beer that was aged in bourbon barrels I expected more bourbon in the aroma. Taste is the same as the aroma, it’s all roasted malt, chocolate and coffee with a little bit of vanilla and bourbon. Mouthfeel/body is medium, it’s a bit creamy but also has too much carbonation for my liking. If you like your bourbon barrel aged beers with a lot (or even a decent amount) of bourbon, this brew isn’t for you. I think it’s still a decent overall stout, but at $15.99 a 4-pack I don’t think it’s even close to being worth the price.

16 oz. can via trade with alexsdad06- thanks again, Brad! Interesting sticker label on the can with "Bourbon’s Barrel Stout"- interesting name, too. Pours a deep but not quite opaque coffee brown with a dark tan head that starts at about a finger and settles into a ring and thin film. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee, toasted brown sugar, charred oak, caramel, dark chocolate, and cola- roast leads the way. Flavor of coffee, roasted malts, dark chocolate, cola, vanilla, brown sugar, and oak. Subtle bourbon. Light-bodied, with a roasty mouthfeel and medium carbonation- a little thin and without the complexity a bourbon barrel impy stout could have.

500ml can from mishuggah. Black with a dark brown head and a ruby tinge. Let this sit in the glass for a good 30 minutes and that helped to remove most of the metallic odour. Definite smoke / porter like aroma with roasted malts, barley, bourbon is very subtle but get some vanilla and oak along with bittersweet chocolate. Under the radar but high carbonation, below average body, slightly bitter and grows, becomes somewhat dry, more bourbon on the finish but the balance is off for sure.

Draft sample. Poured black color with an average creamy brown head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Medium to heavy toasted sweet malt and wood aroma. Medium to full body with a creamy texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy toasted sweet flavor with a medium to heavy sweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a good beer.
Earlier Rating: 6/9/2011 Total Score: 3.7
Draft sample at KFOA. Poured black color with an average creamy brown head that was mostly lasting with good lacing. Medium to heavy toasted sweet malt and wood aroma. Medium to full body with a creamy texture and flat carbonation. Medium to heavy toasted sweet flavor with a medium to heavy sweet finish of moderate to long duration. This is a very good beer.

UPDATED: APR 20, 2012 Can. Creamy chocolate malt and bourbon aroma. Dark black-brown color with moderate head. Slightly sweet chocolate malt and moderate bourbon flavor. Very nice.

16 oz. can. Pours a deep dark brown to black with a large creamy tan head. The aroma is roasted malts, chocolate, earthy with a touch of bourbon and vanilla. The flavor is much of the same; dark malts, cocoa, mild coffee with bourbon and vanilla blending nicely. Smooth and creamy with a soft mouth feel. A pretty nice offering from a somewhat local brewery.

1 pint can courtesy of StFun. Pours a dense opaque black color with a small tan head that slowly recedes to a fine ring. The aroma is ripe with blackened barley, earth and coffee. The flavor, like the aroma, is earthy with blackened barley, coffee, chocolate, mocha and a well balanced dram of whiskey. The palate is creamy and smooth with soft carbonation. Finishes long and dry. Overall: This is mocha bomb, I loved it. Thanks Josh.

(CAN) This beer pours very dark with a think creamy head. The first couple sips tasted very metally but it has gotten progressively better as it’s gone down. There are very strong flavors of chocolate and caramel with slight hints of vanilla. However, there are very little whiskey or oak tones considering that it was aged in Makers Mark barrels. I’m not sure that it was worth the $4.50 I paid for the can, but it was still enjoyable and I would be interested in trying it on tap.

Dark brown opaque color with a creamy light brown head. Aroma of chocolate and bourbon. Nice caramel and chocolate flavor works vary well with the bourbon. It has just enough hops to leave a crisp finish.