Revolution Gravedigger Billy

Brewed by Revolution Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Thistle

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Pours brown with a nice tan head. Aroma of bourbon and caramel. Great flavor. Sweet caramel blends well with the wood, bourbon, dark fruit. Solid beer.

draft... dark brown body, light tan head... the aroma is bit boozy with the distinct Woodford Reserve accents, bourbon, vanilla, dark fruit, molasses... the taste is lots of WR as well but I like it more than then nose, caramel, a little molasses and vanilla, oak as well... very good and worth trying

Draft on tap at the brewpub (Chicago, IL). Pretty excited for this bad boy. Full pour because I’m honestly excited. Pours a rich near opaque brownish hue, a good murkiness in the body offers a swamp water darkness, rich and opaque wih just a touch of ruby through the body. A decent sized chocolate milk head stays as a film and laces ok. Sticks around as a layer. Aromas are quite nice offering caramel and wet oak, vanilla tannins and Bourbon spirit, gentle heat, cherries, caramel, toffee. Some vanilla, toast, and a rich deep sweetness, faint cocoa and peat, barrel is firm yet not overbearing. Initial is heavier end of medium bodied, offering firm toast and caramel backed into a corner by a strong barrel presence. Oak, vanilla, and Bourbon spirit offer great flavors, rich complexity and a sufficient malt body still remains, offering elements of the base such as dark fruit, cherries, toast, and caramel. Vanilla, good barrel thins the beer a touch, but doesn’t make it lose it’s livelihood. Finish is crisp and a bit sweet and thick, with some good toast, cocoa, dark fruit and firm barrel, touches of dancing lingering heat. Really well put together experience here. The barrel program here is showing some great progress and this beer is an example of a winner through and through. Quite tasty.

On tap at the brewpub. Pours a deep, ruby-brown colored body with a finger-width, creamy, tan head that dissipates slowly and leaves a nice lacing throughout. Aroma is really solid with lots of bourbon and oak, deep toffees, vanilla, coconut, a hint of toast, and a trace of cherry. Flavor is just as nice. Cherry wood and bourbon up front with lots of deeper, sweeter toffees. The wood cuts the sweetness nicely and gives off a really pleasant vanilla with some toasted coconut in the middle. Some dark fruits, a hint of smoke, and rich caramel before this finishes very well balanced with an excellent blend of barrel and malt sweetness. Light dryness and bitterness shows up with just a hint of bourbon heat. Lengthy aftertaste following a medium body and a light carbonation. Overall, another barrel aged winner from Revolution. Great balance between the sweeter malts, light dark fruits, and barrel with a nice hint of smoke in there. Really impressive what they’re doing.

Snifter pour consumed at the source... Pours a mostly opaque ruddy mahogony hued consistency, dark an almost impenetrable while crowned with a thin wispy film of creamy light khaki head quickly dispersing eventually rendering a thin ring around the glass... A delectable bourbon barrel richness engulfs the aroma initially slowly givIng way to soft charred wood, vanilla, and smooth bourbon notes. Decadent and worth savoring... After allowing to warm up a bit, the flavors follow suit nicely with bourbon and deeper toffee tones. A mild level of char and light smoke was noticeable at first bu was clearly absent in subsequent sips. Flavors start off sweet but never to the point of excess. A mild bitterness presents itself later and lingers well on through the finish. Caramels and dark fruits mingle cohesively alongsude the aforementioned. Medium bodied overall wouldn’t say too thin but perhaps shy of a full mouthfeel. Somewhat prickly carbonation gives life almost a bit too much and would prefer it to be a touch more still. Flavor profile, and not to mention the aroma, fair well with the barrel improving this one quite a bit (once again actually).

draft at revo, 2 x 5oz sample pours, this guy poured a nice ruby brown with creamy tan head. aroma was really pleasant and it’s something I’ve been getting used to from Revolution, for most part the aroma on all their barrel aged stuff is pretty excellent. lots of vanilla, coconut, bourbon and burnt toffees. flavors follows up the same as sweet toffee mixes well with a slight sour cherry, vanilla, coconut, and bourbon. the body is thin but not really in an annoying way but more in a way that makes this thing seem rather sessionable. I actually poured 2 samples in a pint glass and enjoyed this as more of a session beer as it drank more like a rich and complex 7% beer than a big 10% BA thing. I enjoyed this one a lot and Revolution seems to once again hit a home run from barrel aging just a decent base beer. Not many people can pull that off.

I’ll keep it short and simple, I have only been truly disappointed with a Rev barrel aged beer once. They keep knocking these out the park, it’s a lovely dark toffee color (possibly a hint of red) with a sweet boozy nose of vanilla and bourbon. Slightly thick and sticky on the tongue with a taste of vanilla, toffee, butterscotch and my favorite BOOZE! I’ll definitely be going back for more of this one.