AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

Rating #500. Yay! Pours black with a brown head. Aroma is strong coffee and oak. Flavor again is more strong coffee, oak, bourbon, cream, toffee, booze, and just a hint of paper. Silky smooth mouthfeel. Some hint of the abv. I really liked this one, but after everything was said and done I almost prefer the non BA speedway. I did here from a few folks I shared this with it wasn’t up to par with other bottles tasted. Still though, I’m so glad I finally got to try this. Thanks ratebeer in general for this one!

Bottle from ebay purchase. Sampled with Stegosaurus. Bottle from 2006 #46 of 235. BANG WOW ! Aroma god like Chocolate, bourbon wood and roast. The pour is almost black but you can see a reddish hue. A very thin tan head. First taste is over whelming. The second taste you notice a perfect blend of Chocolate , vanilla, bourbon oak with a roasty bitter finish. Absolutely world class.

From my backlog. Many thanks to Chuck for this rare treat. 2004 vintage #11 of 240. Poured a loose head with a decent amount of lacing. Right off the bat I get an upfront dose of sour in the aroma. Soon after a wave of bourbon and oak sweep through. I feel aweful before I even take the first sip. Soon after I imbibe, my fears are confirmed: this is far past its prime. There is still remnants of what used to be: wonderful richness of the base beer, beautiful example of barrel-aging, great complexity hidden underneath. Unfortunately, all of that is dominated by the degregation of time. A dominant sour character has taken over and thinned its body. It’s aggressive nature overshadows what a magnificient beer this must have once been. I can peer through this veil and sense glimmers of its once glorious past, but it’s now a shadow of its former self. The experience was poor for me and I felt aweful at the loss.

bottle from my bro naven. Overrated. I mean, its good, but its not awesome. I wanted a 5.0, and this is not that good. Expectations outweigh substance. Flavor is malty, a little cloying. Nice, I’d drink 4 more, but I wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth to get it like I wouldve yesterday.

Bottle (2006, #165) from brewery. Slick black upon pouring. Low carbonation. Very oily appearance. Dark fruity aroma. Bourbon and vanilla, along with some oak. Big bourbon flavor up front. Somewhat boozy. Huge flavors. Some sweetness. Warming going down. Some bitterness in the finish. Seems like it could age a longer. Good impy with a lot of character. Nice coffee finish.

I must be one of the few beer geeks that is not terribly fond of this massive brew from local favorites, Alesmith. To thick for me, and I would like a bit of carbonation but every Speedway I’ve had, BA, aged, or fresh, was still. Surely my palate is not up to the task of this complex roast bomb, it’s me not you.

2006 vintage, from the brewery. Sampled along side a regular 2007 Speedway Stout. This made for an interesting tasting experience after trying it first with jarspag a few days earlier. It’s been a long time coming for this rarity. The pour is velvety black, and nearly still. Faint wisps of carbonation swirl on the surface, with some light reaching through the deep maroon edges. Awesome aroma of intense chocolate and bourbon oak, with a big molasses and licorice presence mixed in. The aroma is much more mature and mellowed compared to the regular Speedway (which is comprised more so of fresh coffee and oats), but I can’t say it’s that much better. The flavors here are less of the major coffee presence, and more of a cellared, charred wood tone from the bourbon barrel. While the barrel is not as prominent as BA Wee Heavy or Numbskull, it does add a unique and intriguing layer of complexity to that which is Speedway. Pretty outstanding mouth-feel, just a lot different than normal; oily and coating the palate, minus the carbonation. A tad of a sour, oxidized tang in the finish, but it didn’t downgrade the overall experience that much. Overall, yes I think that fresh (and aged) original Speedway does dominate the Imperial Stout style; this blew me away, but not as much as Alesmith’s other barrel-aged beers. Hats off on this creation however, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Two different 2006 vintages sampled on 4/12/08 & 4/15/08. Props to Justin to cracking this during 4/12 tasting. Sampled side by side normal Speedway. Been waiting a long, long time to try this....

Rich, robust and intriguing aromas of dark fruits, sweet sticky bourbon, dark chocolate, warmth, oak. Flavor becomes increasingly bourbon/caramel SWEET. I mean really sticky sweet...there is a big presence of dark fruits and licorice behind the sweet malts and dark chocolate. The roasty, long bitter coffee presense is completely consumed. In comparison to the full bodied, amazing palate on the normal Speed - this mouthfeel just doesn’t stand up. As much as I wanted to love this beer, I can’t help but give all the praise back to the original masterpiece. This didn’t seem to take on the same barrel presence as their other BA’s - it was missing that elegant, velvety, "WOW" characteristic in the palate that I found in a beers like BA numbskull/decadence. I’m afraid this might be a touch hyped. Hopefully some age will put the cloying characteristics in check. Don’t get me wrong, this is still an amazing beer - but for now, I like Speedway minus the barrel, who would have thought!!!