AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

Bottle 101/155: Pours a viscous black, dark brown edges, brownish head, spotty lacing.   Hot coffee and bourbon on the nose.   The coffee aspect is strong, but doesn’t appear to be as strong as the regular version.   Quite coffeeish on the tongue, but again its much less than the standard.   The barrel aging adds a wonderful touch to this beer, adding even more complexity over the original.   White hot, its not alcoholic.   I spoze I should say its very warming.   Big body and mouthfeel, viscous as well.   This is truely a dessert beer that I am very fortunate to have tried thanks to Seattles new resident, Sean (DrunkAsASkunk).   It just occured to me, the beer I had is the same one pictured (on the right) in the photograph.   Wow, never had I thought I would get a chance at this beer.   Pitonka is a very happy man.   Thanks again Sean!

Bottle 101/115 graciously provided by DrunkAsaSkunk. Tasted at Larry Pitonka’s September Tasting in Seattle
Dark brown color, black edges. Tan lacing with light head. The nose is lightly coffeeish with some astringent roast and woody antique guitar notes (no pun) with a bit of cobbwebb. Very rich and creamy, lots of caramel and a touch of soy sauce. Nice, very nice. I think this aged nicely and it really is quite a different animal than the original.

Oh how I love living in San Diego and having breweries like Alesmith a 10 minute drive away! Very dark chocolate color with an aroma to match. Strong coffee and chocolate tastes/flavors and very warming going down. Fairly strong alcohol taste, but it works so well with this beer. Absolutely delicious!

Bottle #4/115, thanks to herbjones for trading me this. Dark brown/black in color, with a very small, brown head. Aromas are coffee, chocolate, alcohol, whiskey, and wood. Flavor is coffee, whiskey, wood, smoke, and vanilla. Body is on the medium to full, with the alcohol right there, not hidden at all. Palate would be better with more carbonation. A nice treat for my 40th birthday. (Note: As this beer warms, it gets better. The coffee seems to mellow somewhat and more sweetness reveals itself).

Aroma: brown sugar, cream, red wine tannins, alcohol, coco, vanilla
Appearance: dark brown-->black, tan head, lacing
Flavor: brown sugar, coco, alcohol, espresso beans, red grapes, smoke, moss/earthiness, bitter hops
Palate: some burning, espresso beans aftertaste, smooth--fills mouth, hop aftertaste

Aged an additional 11 months. Big, roasty, black, bold, anise, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, warming, creamy full mouthfeel, full-bodied. Finishes dry, somewhat bitter coffee. All these flavors blend together so well.

Very dark brown; a little bit of whisky, coffee, toast, roasted malt in the aroma. Palate is sweet, with whisky, lots of lasting maltiness, toffee, vanilla. Complex, interesting beer.

2002 batch, bottle #2, poured by Peter Zien at the GABF. Perfect appearance, dark and opaque poured from a pitcher. Wood and bourbon are strong in the nose along with alcohol and underlying roasted dry chocolate. Flavor is also heavily influenced by the barrel aging, with bourbon and wood character evident. While I say "influenced" I don’t mean "dominated by". I had a Rock Bottom Bourbon Barrel Stout earlier, and it tasted like a middle of the road stout with two shots of cheap bourbon thrown in compared to this gem. This one finishes with a creamy, toffee-like buttery coffee and roasted chocolate malt fade. Smooth and velvety palate; this is thick no doubt about it, but it is sooo good.