AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

GABF 2004, thank you Peter! Full aroma of whiskey and coffee. Quite smooth until the alcohol in the finish. Great mouthfeel. Taste is of coffee and liqour. Big alcohol burn in the finish. Not sure if barrel aging did that much, but hey, this is Speedway, it just can’t be bad.

Not my taste. 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. The barrel-aging is not very noticeable and does not add or take away from this beer IMO.

What a great great brew this is. Good solid chocolate aroma. This is black as black can be. Excellent deep chocolate flavor with a perfect amount of bourbonish alcohol seeping through.

Sampled at the Knoxville tasting courtesy of Springslicker, thanks Jay. After just having tried and disliked one barrel aged beer (Angels Share), the group decided to pull out this one. Bottle #84/228. Having read so many good things about this beer over the course of four years at ratebeer, I was incredible excited to get to try this beer, this, holy grail for many a person who has drank this beer. It pours black with a brown head on it. The beer is black, there is no brownish hints, no dark brown bullshit, this is black. The aroma is fantastic, the best aroma I have ever smelled on a barrel aged beer - slight hints of vanilla, coffee, chocolate, raisins, slight alcohol notes. The taste is smooth, rich, creamy, absolutely not overdone with bourbon in the least. This beer is phenominal. Lives up to all of its high expectations, and then some. These guys need to give pointers to all of the barrel aging brewers that have their beer tasting like bourbon. With just the slightest bourbon notes, this becomes better than regular speedway. Believe what you read about this beer, it is very true. Thanks to Jay for letting me sample this rare ass beer.

My 500th!!!! Shared with a big thanks to LeopoldStoch. Pours a deep black color with a brown head. Aroma is malty, woody, vanilla, some coffee and raisins. Flavor is a nice woody vanilla, roasted malts, and coffee. Great beer just glad I got to try some.

Pours black. Little to no head, a small brown cap was roused easily. There is a small bit of stringy lace. Nose of whiskey(though light) chocolate, roast, light fruits and mellow wood. Body is full, palate is oily, coating and slick. Full flavored, chocolate, roast, bourbon. Coffee notes are burnt with black patent flavors and a touch of soy. A surprising note of pineyness also. Finish is medium sweet, chocolatey, roasty and lightly bourbony. A very nice brew that should of been enjoyed a bit sooner. The aging IMHO was a bit long as the flavors were a bit muted. I, like many others enjoyed the stock Speedway a bit more though this is no slouch by any means. Many thanks to Cliff (SDbruboy) for supplying this rare brew for my enjoyment.Thanks Cliff!! I,m also glad to have enjoyed it with my little tasting buddy Brian, eaglefan538. A great expierence indeed!

(2004 BOTTLE 54/228 OPENED SIDE BY SIDE WITH A REGULAR SPEEDWAY)after years of waiting,i finally get to try this brew.i opened it with a few other rate beer friends.(and im glad i did.i hope they enjoyed it as much as i did)i poured it into my stone imperial glass and noticed the appearance was a bit (but not much) lighter than the orginal speedway.although the b.a. version had no head what so ever.(this may be due to the barrel aging).i picked up the glass and put it to my nose and recieved a wonderful mix of oak,vanilla,coffee,roasted malts,and chocolate.as far as the aroma goes,id say i prefer the ba version to the original.now for the flavor/taste.the first thing i was hit with was a bit of a bitter flavor that i was not familiar with from the regular speedway.but after that,it was oak,vanilla,coffee,chocolate,and an alcohol finish.although as the beer warmed the bitter taste vanished and i just picked up the flavors.now as far as mouthfeel the b.a. version wins hands down.it was smooth as silk.all the flavors mold together really well,except for the alcohol.it was a little more upfront in the b.a. version compared to the original.its really hard to say which version i really like better at the moment cuz i have hadmultiple versions/years of the original speedway,but only one of the b.a. speedway.i know one thing,i gotta dock the ba version on appearance becuase it didnt have any head.(no pun intended)but as far as mouthfeel and overall smoothness.this beer tops any other that i have ever had.(RE-RATE:JUNE 6TH 2007 FOR MY ANNIVERSARY WITH MY GIRLFRIEND.)brown body with light brown and red highlights.this time i received a nice dark brown head.as i gave the glass a swirl i picked up some webbing and legs on the side of the glass.(this will up my rating in appearance.)the aroma was awsome once again.everything has melted together even more.the flavor is once again outstanding.and alot of the sharp bitterness i got last year has faded away.although the alcohol is still pretty upfront,which is something i thought might calm down as well.some oxidation has set in,but not enough to give it an off flavor.honestly i cant see it getting any better than this right now.(2006 BATCH 2.NUMBER 52/333)nice dark brown head on this once that leaves some webbing on the glass.the aroma is bourbon,vanilla,coffee,chocolate,molasses,roasted malts,and some alcohol.the flavor is much of the same with some smoke,and the alcohol shines a bit more in the flavor.i think a year would do this some justice,although its head and shoulders above the first 2006 batch they put out a few months ago.

Very appreciative thanks to Kyle for the bottle!! 96/228 Had to maneuver a few pages to make this 1600, oh well. Black with beige head, fades to film. aroma full of nice sweet buttery bourbon and chocolate. Flavor on par, huge chocolate, buttery/vanilla bourbon, residuel sugars, and no coffee whatsoever!! Smooth creamy mouthfeel. Very nice BB brew. Thanks again Kyle!!