AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

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!

750ml bottle 2004 edition #73 of 228 via trade with the ever so generous zug4abby! - Thank you so much!!! - We drank this along side a 2003 Speedway for comparison - Pours black as night with a short mocha head that stays briefly but laces some. Aroma is coffee, bourbon, oak, vanilla, and some dark chocolate. Flavor is Bourbon, Oak, Vanilla, and a bit of Dark Chocolate. The barrel seems to add so much flavor to this beer but doesn’t weaken the original flavor that is so wonderful in this beer... The palate is simply the smoothest richest mouthfeel I’ve ever tasted.. Amazingly creamy not much carbonation... I made the comment that when I get to hell I hope this is on tap.. This is indeed a perfect beer to me!!!

Brewtopia 2004, bottle #19, thanks to Eyedrinkale: Black with little head, huge nose that is filled with bourbon, wood, and sweet chocolate. Full bodied, huge fight between sweet and bitter in this one. I hope to try this again someday. One sample was not enough.

Rerate, 2006 bottle, courtesy of tertons. Thanks, Nelson! The most recent batches of the BA Alesmith beers have been rather disappointing. Bumping this down a few points, out of the top slot.

TITW Part Deux - Rerate: 2004 bottle, #75/228, courtesy of jeffin7. Thanks, Jeff!! Raisins, dark chocolate, vanilla bourbon in the aroma. Plenty of dark chocolate, dried fruits, slightly hot. Long, milk chocolate finish. 9/4/9/5/19.

2004 bottle, courtesy of Bück Dich (a fine soul), RBSG 06. Headless. Coffee and bourbon in a glass-filling nose. Upfront: slightly vegetal, showcasing its bourbon at the edges. Nicely balanced, with a mouthfeel that lasts for ages, w/ layer upon layer of chocolate and oak. 10/5/9/5/19.

Vintage 2006, bottle 70/235; Sampled June 2008
A fairly vigorous pour produces a one-finger thick, darkly browned, tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is simply black as it sits in my glass and no amount of putting up to the light makes it anything but opaque. The aroma has a tartness to it that is strongly influenced by Bourbon-like notes and likely coffee. Roast coffee notes actually play a big role and mix with some fruity, burnt prune notes and lots of deeply toasted malt notes. There is also a nice aroma of richly toasted coconut that still has a touch of sweetness of coconut meat. It also seems to get just a touch musty at times, which mixes in with a lightly spicy oak character and a touch of estery alcohol aromas.

Thick and rich feeling as it firsts hits my tongue, creamy dark malt notes hint at lots of residual sugars, but don’t really contribute much sweetness to this beer. A very light carbonation also contributes to the creamy feeling of this brew. Towards the finish the beer thins out considerably while picking up acrid roast notes and sharp, burnt acid quality and a huge bitterness that seems just as much from burnt malt and roast coffee influenced as from the hops. The dual roast influences of coffee and malt actually contribute a tartness that is noticeable throughout the flavor profile, not just the finish, but it is tempered a bit up front by the unctuous body.

As the beer warms up a bit it begins to lose a touch of the acrid character, but seems to pick up a bit more alcoholic heat. This last seems to accent a note reminiscent of burnt prunes. While rich and malty this is surprisingly dry tasting; the thick residual sugars seems to be so well balanced by the roast and barrel flavors that they are not really noticeable. At most there is a noticeable chocolate / cocoa note here, but even this is pretty devoid of sweetness. There is also a touch of almost salty, sort of peat like smokiness that is likely a combination of roast malt and barrel influences. By my second pour the salty, peat-smoke like qualities of this brew are accented even a bit more. This last, in combination with the rich, dark malt flavors really save this beer for me; though it still has an overwhelming bitter and acrid finish at times.

I do like that the barrel influence does not absolutely overwhelm this beer. I am not sure if this is still too young or what, but the roasted grain notes really get overly acrid and bitter in the finish. The barrel influence also contributes to an overall impression of this being unbalanced. This is not nearly as unbalanced or undrinkable as the BA Old Numbskull though, and is even enjoyable in its own right. I think that the complexity of the aged, base beer and the lightish influence of the barrel make this at the very least worth procuring for me.

Jet black, not a lot of head, but this beer just coats the glass with a dark brown glaze. Smell was dark fruits, chocolate, coffee, alcohol, soy and worcestershire. Smooth and vinous - mouthfeel was almost like a plum wine - especially combined with the prune juice flavors down the center of my tongue. Burnt wood edges, dark chocolate and espresso, alcohol at the back that was like whiskey. Finished oaky and dry, lingering bitterness and warmth all the way down my throat. Very good, but not earth shattering - the alcohol that kept creeping in kept this from being better. (Thanks for sharing this, Rockinout John!)

I like but don’t rant and rave about the barrell aged trend. I also love Speedway, so it’s hard to tweek w/ something that’s already that good (kinda like those folks that remake Beatles tunes, just don’t do it, leave ’em alone…. Well, maybe not that extreme, cuz this was darned nice, but..... the straight up Speedway is beautiful, this was just really really nice.) The appearance was pitch black, very thin late developing head (like a dry stout on v. weak nitro), which disappeared as fast as it appeared, although it still provided light lacing somehow. The aroma was oak, coffee, bourbon, raisins. With increasing temperatures, the aroma released some burnt notes along with some true oak. The flavor was raisins, coffee (I wanted more, like the non-aged Speedway), raisins, some bourbon (definitely not overdone, but while it didn’t end up so, it could have used a touch more), light oak, light burnt flavors, chocolate came about with increasing temperatures. The most impressive part may have been the hop hold up, this thing finished with a touch of pine hops, not bad for something 2 years old and barrel aged. Mouthfeel still retained some carbonation, far from a flat beer, and this was comparable in overall mouthfeel to the straight Speedway, perhaps a touch more sticky. A great big huge thanks to my good and very fun beer friend, Bert, who insisted he was holding this for me one day. Congrats on 1200, my friend, and thanks for sharing this gem from 2004, bottle 15 out of 228, I’m honored.

Original Sample from Bottle 102 out of 115 (2002): This stout pours with a black as night body topped by a thin to medium thick brown head witha good amount of lacing. Wow, what a different aroma. The aroma is slightly sweet yet bitter and full of alcohol. A slightly smokey, woody character shows throuhg reminding me of a nice bourbon. The flavor is equally unique. It starts out slightly sweet and malty with a slight alcohol note and turns woody, smokey and roasty with a more prevelent alcohol note. After drinking half the bottle, the vanilla and licorice notes start showing through. This is a great beer. It’s full bodied, slightly tingly and warming. Definately a great beer to celebrate Christmas with. I have had this brew several times since this initial sampling and it keeps getting better and better with age. I’ve also had the pleasure of trying some of the upcoming releases of it and was again blown away.