AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

Great black beer with small but extreemly creamy head.intens aromas of black roasted malts,100% pure black chocolate;XO cognac and Asian spices.Round mouthfeeling with noble bitterness of roasted malts and coffee.Nice sweet-bitter balance with good complexity and nice freshness in the end.

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.

750ml bottle, 2006 vintage, #34/235, with a HUGE THANK YOU to sfoley333 from over @ BeerAdvocate for the trade! Pours a syrupy black with a late forming creamy tan head, minimal spotty lacing. Aroma is bourbon, oak, milk chocolate, molasses and espresso in a near perfect harmony - deep, rich and enticing! Flavor is a bit more over-charred oak than I’d hope, with a nice espresso bitterness also in the front, but the milk chocolate, molasses and even bourbon gets pushed to the background, making the flavor profile more one dimensional than I’d hope. I wouldn’t call this a "let down" per se, but agree with others that it doesn’t top the regular Speedway Stout. Thanks again Sean!

A thin head the color of cocoa powder sits on top of the thickest darkest black imaginable. The aroma is enticing but the flavors are the payoff. Coffee and chocolate with vanilla hinting in the background. All rolling across the tongue like liquid velvet.The barrel aging produced remarkable results. Speedway is one of my all time favorites and I didnt think it could improve so much!

Tasted at Cleveland tasting on 8-23-08. Thanks!! We had a verical of 03, 04, and 06. 03: Pours pitch black with no head or carbonation. Has a nice aroma of vanilla, roasted chocolate malt, and coffee. Has a medium mouthfeel. Taste is bourbon, malt, chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and it all melds together in a nice smooth chocolate bourbon finish. Overall a world class brew. 04: Everything above, but with carbonation and a thin tan head. This made my experience a little better with this brew. 06: Everything above and has more alcohol aroma and flavor to it. Overall, all three beers taste exactly the same. The only difference in my mind is that the 03 had no carbonation, the 04 was carbonated, and the 06 had more alcohol in the aroma and taste with even more carbonation. The lesson here is don’t let these go too long or you won’t be drinking a carbonated world class brew versus a flat one.

2006 Bottle (04/01/08 release) #142/235 provided by my cousin, I finally got a chance to share this with some beer loving friends. This looks identical to the regular speedway so I’ll spare the details. The smell was dope, like regular speedway but better, my friend siad it was like candy. The flavors were also very close to the regular speedway, dark coffee bitterness. There was a little bit of a booze but it was quite subtle. This was a very solid stout but honestly I can’t say it is an improvement over the regular speedway.Damn you Alesmith! The four people who drank this agreed that it was not something you would want a whole bottle of. My verdict is that this is good but don’t trade your cellar away for one. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 06-13-2008 04:16:14

(2006 bottle, shared by tytoanderso, thanks Tyler!) Pours black with a tan head. Aroma of vanilla, oak, a lot of chocolate that begins to smell a lot like baked brownies as it warms, light raisin, roasted malt, alcohol, and really no suggestion of coffee on the nose. The taste is loaded with chocolate, roasted malt, vanilla and oak, a bit of mocha, with a lingering roasted malt, alcohol, and wood finish that is fairly dry and a hint of smoke. The palate is full and fairly thick. This was very good, and the barrel aging was well done.

Found myself talking a lot about this beer lately so might as well enter the rating. I’ve have 03, 04 and 06 vintage. This is for the 06. Pour is pitch black and still...hardly any head. Aroma is oak, chocolate, coffee, vanilla and a touch of bourbon. Velvety smooth taste, creamy. Sweet, but has nice malt balance and some bitterness. Very full body. Very nicely uses bourbon aging without being overpowering.