AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

2004 Vintage (Bottle #84/228)... I think my mouth actually dropped open when I saw this on the table at the Tennessee Spring(ish) Tasting in Knoxville, TN on 3/10/2007! I very special "Thank You" to SpringsLicker for sharing this rare bottle! I really didn’t think that I would ever get to try this gem. Thanks again Jay for your thoughtfulness and generosity... AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout is black and opaque in the glass. It has a dense brown head. The aroma is saturated with both vanilla and chocolate and then accented with some hints of bourbon and coffee. If the aroma isn’t enough to make your mouth water, then the rich, robust, and complex flavor will! An exquisite and carefully balanced composition of milk chocolate, coffee, bourbon, oak/wood, roasted malt, and some deep fruit flavors all work in harmony to please the senses. The finish has flavors of coffee and mocha. BA Speeway has a rich and full body with a silky smoth and creamy texture. I think it might be just a tiny bit less heavy/smooth/creamy than the regular Speedway Stout though. Overall, this is a near perfect example of a barrel-aged beer (and Imperial Stout in general!). This beer lives up to the hype and exceeds my expectations. Hopefully I will be fortunate enough to somehow experience this beer again sometime in the future. I can only dream...

Beer #23 RBSG 06. OK, it’s official, the beers present here are officially completely ridiculous. Deep black, brown at the edges. Beautiful aroma of soft, dark fruits, bourbon, and a touch of coffee. Flavor is ultimately a match to the regular speedway, liquor oriented coffee and chocolate, but with a softer, fruitier note present. Also a bit of bourbon in the background, but in no way overdone. Very, very good. Got .1 higher than I gave the original.

2002 bottle courtesy of Eyedrinkale at richlikebeer’s YeHa 05. Thank you so much Mike. Oaky, boozy, vanilla nose with mild hints of chocolate and some sweet malts. Not much coffee in the nose. Opaque black/brown color with a small tan head. Wish the head was a bit larger. Sweet, chocolatey, roasty start. This morphs into some booziness with a dry woodsy flavor. Finishes with a touch of sweetness. The barrel-aging is not very noticeable and does not add or take away from this beer IMO. It was really nice to be able to try this.

2002 and 2004 vintages. Nearly opaque black with warm caramel-brown edges. Poured from a pitcher, but the head refused to stand even with agitation. Nice apparent viscosity. Barrel-aging adds remarkable depth and balance to the dominant coffee tones of the "regular" Speedway Stout. Emergent qualities include port, tons of dark chocolate notes, and buttery vanilla tones. Incredibly long and rich as it goes down. Very mature and layered like an onion. Barrel-aging was perfected here and not overdone. Sublime stuff.

157/228 2004 courtesy of kmcnair from that other site. The aroma is muted chocolate, light oak and roasted malt and while it smells good it doesn’t really wow you either. The body is deep black with a fading, but initially quite thick and creamy, mocha head. The curious thing about this head is that unlike many BA beers you can always tease this one right back up to impressive stature. <P> The fore is hot with spicy oak notes, black chocolate, burnt malt, espresso, some light bourbon and oddly some fairly nutty notes. The coffee seems much less concentrated than in the regular version. The mouthfeel actually has held up quite well and this is a world class beer, but sadly it isn’t quite the wonder beer I have dreamed for over two years. Perhaps that is my fault, but while it’s great it’s not the beer I hyped it up to be in my mind. Which still leaves a wonderful brew.

Bottle #67/115. John (hopsrus) was generous enough to share this beauty with Jeff (TAR) and myself. Perfect appearance, opaque and dark with a creamy light tan head. Wood and bourbon are strong in the aroma along with alcohol and underlying roasted dry chocolate. Flavor is also heavily influenced by the barrel aging, with bourbon and wood character finishing with a creamy, buttery coffee and roasted chocolate malt medley. Smooth and velvety palate; this is not a sticky Imperial, but it is smooth as silk. I can understand why this is currently the top-rated beer on the site, though I would be interested to taste this (2002) batch without the effect of barrel aging and the bourbon flavors aging imparts.

Bottled. Black as pitch with a small fast disappearing brown head. Smooth and very full mouthfeel. Roasted and malty with notes of toffee, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, wood and hops.

Black beer with a nice brown head that dissapated to an oil slick and left nice lace. Wonderful, almost hypnotic aroma of buttery caramel and toffee sweetness. Perceptable alcohol but not obtrusive. Lots of coffee in the beer, which I expected from the Speedway, but sweetened with toffee and spiked with bourbon. Some red wine tanins up front with bourbon barrel in the middle with beautiful coffee in the finish. Such creamy mouthfeel. I did not want to like this beer as much as I did. Thanks a ton to temporrari for sharing his bottle with me.