AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

03 - Bottle shared by miketd, Cleveland tasting. Pours inky black with almost no head. Aroma is bourbon, chocolate, coffee, char. Flavor is mainly bourbon, chocolate, roast, vanilla, some dried fruits. Palate is silky smooth, full bodied, almost no carbonation, finished hot. Lacks any carbonation, too boozey, good but not great. 4.1 04 - Bottle shared by moejuck, Cleveland tasting. Pours inky black with a small brown head. Aroma is bourbon, chocolate, coffee, char. Flavor is more chocolate, roast, vanilla, some dried fruits, bourbon, oak. Palate is silky smooth, full bodied, mild carbonation, finished a little sweeter than the 03. This one was my favorite. Silky smooth texture, right amount of bourbon, age has brought out more sweetness and taken the edge off! 4.5 06 - shared by fiver29, Cleveland tasting. Pours inky black with a small brown head. Aroma is bourbon, chocolate, coffee, char. Flavor is more chocolate, roast, vanilla, some dried fruits, bourbon, oak, light metallic notes. Palate is smooth, full bodied, mild carbonation, finished more bitter than anything else. Good stuff, a little young, and harsh for my likings. 4.3 Taking the average of the 3, I come up with 4.3. Huge thanks to miketd, moejuck, fiver29 for putting together the vertical, amazing, most people would give a testical to try one of these!

Poured from 75cl bottle at Alesmith dinner. This was an unknown vintage bottle that they brought to the dinner in Las Vegas. What else can be said about this beer? It’s really more a work of art in a bottle. Huge aroma and flavour that covers everything from whisky, to chocolate to roasted malt to smoke, coffee and finished with some alcohol heat. Outstanding. ***Update: found out this was a pre-release of 2007.

Bottle shared at the CA-GA cultural beer exchange hosted by alexanderj, 2003 bottle, #43 of 196. Dark brown / black pour with no head. Not lively looking at all. Aroma is strong bourbon, very hot, chocolate malt and black licorice. Flavor is also very hot with the strong bourbon, roasted chocolate malt, licorice, some wood. Pretty boozy, burns my tongue.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, blankboy, tupalev, jerc & garthicus - courtesy of garthicus. 2006 vintage, bottle 57 of 235. Deep ruby-black with a wispy tan head. Aroma of charred malt, burnt wood, bourbon, vanilla-soaked raisins, and some boozy warmth. Medium bodied, a bit creamy. Very well integrated flavours of malted milk, coffee, whiskey/bourbon and chocolate. Long, luscious finish with a mild herbal character. Excellent!

My bottle via a tremendous trade with Irishboy - Shared with HogTownHarry, GregClow, Tupalev,Jerc & Blankboy. Bottle 57/235. App: Deep black/brown colour with a brown bubbly head. Aroma: I could get the aroma at arms length - ohhh yeah. Nutty, creamy, cappuccino, chocolate and caramel, mouth watering. Flavour: Nutty-coffee, brandy, alcohol, cinnamon, mocha!! So much going on, simply incredible. Very very drinkable with a long soothing finish, a great beer sent by a great ratebeerian and shared with great ratebeerians.

Tasted at Cleveland tasting on 8-23-08. Thanks!! We had a verical of 03, 04, and 06. 03: Pours pitch black with no head or carbonation. Has a nice aroma of vanilla, roasted chocolate malt, and coffee. Has a medium mouthfeel. Taste is bourbon, malt, chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and it all melds together in a nice smooth chocolate bourbon finish. Overall a world class brew. 04: Everything above, but with carbonation and a thin tan head. This made my experience a little better with this brew. 06: Everything above and has more alcohol aroma and flavor to it. Overall, all three beers taste exactly the same. The only difference in my mind is that the 03 had no carbonation, the 04 was carbonated, and the 06 had more alcohol in the aroma and taste with even more carbonation. The lesson here is don’t let these go too long or you won’t be drinking a carbonated world class brew versus a flat one.

Bottle (750ml) shared with HogTownHarry, GregClow, tupalev, jerc & garthicus -- courtesy of garthicus. 2006 vintage, bottle 57 of 235. Pours an oily black with a small creamy light-brown head. Aroma has a good amount of bourbon barrel along with roasted malt, vanilla, chocolate and dark fruit -- if I had to nitpick I would say I’ve smelt this before in several other BA Impy Stouts, it’s not unique, but it’s still very nice. Flavour of bourbon, roasted malt, coffee, rich chocolate, vanilla and a bit of alcohol. Long roasty bitter finish. Oily / creamy mouthfeel, medium bodied. It’s all very well balanced and the BA isn’t overdone. Wow, this is absolute treat -- many thanks to garthicus and IrishBoy!

Poured a nice black color with a light tan head. Aroma was lots of coffee beans and a strong scent of alcohol. Flavor was somewaht complex with a nice espresso flavor mixed in with some chocolate sweetness, but a bit too much overpowered by the bourbon barrel flavor.