AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

2006 bottle shared with the family for my 1000th. Poured a deep black with a one finger brown head that hung around for a while. The aroma was mainly oak and vanilla, with notes of chocolate and roasted malt. The coffee has pretty much faded away. The flavor was mainly chocolate, with roasted malt, vanilla and oak present. The body was full, the carbonation was very soft and the mouthfeel was thick and creamy. This was a great beer and I was glad to try it. They didn’t go overboard with the aging here.

Courtesy Degarth. 2004. #157/228. Black with a bit of brown on the edges. 1.5cm frothy, grayish tan cap. Nose of roasty malt, vanilla, oak, coffee beans, bourbon, alcohol. Similar flavors, perfect amount of bourbon, just enough to let you know that’s what was in the barrel before the beer. Less coffee than the original, nice balance to the flavors, although it’s missing the dose of hops near the end. Body is lighter, also- full/medium, balanced carbonation. Excellent. Thanks, Joe.

750 mL bottle [#6 of 115, capped]: completely still jet black silk melts from the bottle. An opaque gold rim lines the top. Deep creamy vanilla bean pod aroma, sweet oaky wood with the smallest hint of Irish malt whiskey, dark cherries, and peppermint combine in the aroma. Cream, almost milky palate . . . I must be honest, I was expecting a more silky, tightly carbonated palate from the top beer, though this was good in its own way, however still. Flavours start with dark roasted coffee-alcohol and melt into black chocolate truffles, bitter raisins, burnt gooey honey, and tangy cherries. This is a great beer, made by an ever greater brewer(y), and though we did everything possible to keep the bottle perfect (temperature controlled cellar 55 degrees) it does not deserve to be the best beer in the world, a title I feel only monks should be responsible for . . .

750ml bottle. #40/233. Dark chocolate truffle, just a bit of coffee, not a lot of barrel on the nose. Plenty of dark, roasty, chewy and thick malt. Dark, dried fruit skin (raisin and prune). Barrel and malt are fairly in balance. Some pepper. Pours the requisite oily black with a think, dark khaki head. Nice... but standard pour for a BA Impy. Flavor is initially loaded with the dark chocolate that I found to be quite nice on the nose. Vanilla, dark fruits, coffee... Plenty of barrel presence. Some toasted nuttiness. Better than your average BA Impy... but the alcohol is rather distracting on the tongue throughout. Silky on the tongue with a shorter, boozy finish. I like the intense chocolate flavors initially on the tongue, but the barrel, coffee and alcohol tend to distract later. Nevertheless... an admirable effort. Thanks Jonathan!

Aroma was near perfection of the combination of rich high quality bourbon and the wonderful roastedness of a first class stout,taste did not quite measure up to that fantastic aroma, that wonderful bourbon was a little to dominating, and the malt roastedness came on as a little to one dimensional,didn’t the the various coffee and chcoclate flavors that I’ve had in other brews I’ve rated in the upper 4’s,still a brew I would go out of the way for

Rustic, reddish black. Honeycrisp apples, raspberries, and bitter chocolate aroma. Dark chocolate caramels. Cherry-cognac chocolates. Really sweet. Firmly alcoholic.

A thick, prickly, spirited flavor. Lots of bitterness and peppery alcohol, skimming the deep chocolate and creamy sweet flavors with rough strokes. Sharply warm and borderline hot for me, in amaretto and even kahlua flavors. The combination of the acrid, oxygenated coffee flavors with the spirit flavors is pretty unpleasant to me, but thankfully it sits deeply enough underneath the ocean of chocolate and molasses and extraneous sweetness that it doesn’t ruin the beer.

Palate is full and oily; certainly hot in the finish, with a peppery singe. And a little bit of chocolate covered coffee beans lingers long after the finish. There’s a lot of positive qualities here but I can’t appreciate the expired coffee flavors or the heavy heat.

2004 BA vintage. Dark brown; thin brown soapy head. Medium-dry-sweet coffee. Complex stouty coffee, chocolate, vanilla. Taste is great. Great coffee sweet stout with a subtle blended hint of bourbon vanilla, miniscule fruit hints. I defintely prefer the way the barrel has toned down the huge rush of coffee.

After a 15 floor walk up to jhenry04’s place, he shared this ’06 bottle that poured deep and thick dark brown with a few bubbles in place of a head. Nose is bourbon and surprisingly just a hint of coffee with some roasted malt added in. The flavor is a bit more rich with some complexity in the form of vanilla and a dry oak influence. Quite nice, and I am grateful to Jason for sharing this hard to come by bottle.