AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

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!!!

2006 Vintage, bottle #226 of 235. Pours black with just a few bubbles. No head, no lace, comewhat thick looking. Smells of vanilla, chocolate, coffee and wood. Tastes of roasty, dark malts up front and then the bourbon and coffee and wood kick in. I don’t taste the big coffee flavors like in un-BA Speedway but the barrel flavors are not overpowering. Thick body with a few fizzies but no real carbonation.

4th Beer of the Beer Spot Tasting Sunday March 30th, 2008. Bottle provided by Westsidethreat, thanks Skye. 04 Vintage Bottle. #50/228. Pours black with a light brown ring. Nose is sick, bourbon, coffee, and chocolate with rich deep malts. Taste is sweet, bourbon with a big sweet chocolate feeling. Really nice and oh so awesome. This beer has been a long long long time coming for me and it was worth the wait.

2003 bottle from Alesmith release. Yummy. Black with no head. Potent alcohol (this has to be way above 12%), bourbon, vanilla, and oak aroma. Sweet thick chocolate, coffee, bourbon, and caramel taste with an amazing chocolate finish. Excellent. Overall: 5.0 2006 bottle from the BA (Bare Ass? No, Barrel Aged) release. Black with a brown creamy head. Cofffee roasty dark chocolate and vanilla aroma. Rich buttery palate. Bitter dark chocolate, coffee, bourbon and vanilla taste with some alcoholic warmth and an oaky finish. 4.9 total score

06 bottle....thanks warren! Well I might try my last bottle after 2 years and see if it is worth all the hype.... but smells kinda musty and it took barrel aged characteristics that I am really not too fond of......which sucks...cause I really must say I really really like the regular version much better at this time....hoping it will age into something much better

2004 Bottle # 61 of 228 Shared by Bill at a crazy stout tasting. Thanks for this once in a lifetime chance!. Pours pitch black with a tiny brown head. Smell is coffee, bourbon, oak, roasted ashy malt and yeast. Taste is out of this world. Strong bourbon, coffee, toffee, oak and a great flavor that reminds me of smoked brown sugar(that’s what I wrote down??) Mouthfeel is thick and chewy and very light carbonation that is perfect for this style. Amazing how the Speedway remained the same and they layered on the bourbon and oak. This is a real treat even with a couple of years on it.

’04 vintage, 49/228, BIG thanks to Drewbeerme for this one. Sampled at "An evening with Pantanap #3. Dark brown to opaque black with beautiful motor oil brown small head. Aroma is bourbo vanilla, dough, dark malt, a little fruit, ver dark, rich. Roasted malt with bournon alc backbone, chocolate/milk chocolate, very well balanced, oh so good. Creamy full body. Well balanced chocolate and bourbon, alc.

2004 Bottle #35/228 shared by captatincougar the footsex gathering. BA mothafuckin’ speedway. Wow. And Tom let me keep the bottle. Thanks a bunch, dude! Pour is black with hardly any head. Aroma has some mild bourbon, with deep chocolate, dark fruit, molasses, and vanilla. Flavor is equally rich with more chocolate, a good helping of coffee, more bourbon, and vanilla. This beer is incredibly smooth for such a big beer. yum.