AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

In short: An bourbon aged coffee stout that spent too much time in the bourbon barrel. Excellent but I prefer the regular Speedway.
How: Bottle 750ml. Sent to me by many people (doubleO, hophead84, kegbear, more…). This rating for a 2007 vintage (from kegbear I think).
The look: Black body topped by a short lived small tan head
In long: Drank a full bottle next to on of the regular Speedway that WeeHeavySD brought to me over a year ago. So both beer are about the same age. No need to describe the BA beer, better to describe the difference between the regular Speedway that we all know and love. The nose of the BA has moderate bourbon, some vanilla and very little coffee. Overall the nose is a lot less roasted and less coffee than the regular Speedway. The taste is overloaded with vanilla (that the regular Speedway doesn’t have), light roasted level (less than regular Speedway), quite a bit of black liquorice (a lot more than in the regular Speedway), some bourbon (less than I expected), some port-wine (something the regular speedway didn’t have). The carbonation is softer than in the regular Speedway. The alcohol is a little apparent (more apparent than in the regular Speedway). Overall the bourbon barrel aging is so over-done that the beer barely feels like a coffee stout. Barely any coffee notes. I’ve had chocolate stouts that had more coffee flavours than this one. This really is a very good brew, going through a 750ml by myself was a pleasure, something I cannot say about most of 12%+ beers. However I cannot believe that some people can genuinely find the BA better than the regular Speedway. Hey, I just had this great idea, why not use Bourbon Barrels to make scotch!!!

750, capped and foiled. ’06. #102/230. Thanks, BitBucket! Jet black. Loose, swirly burnt tan head. Huge sweet vanilla chocolate bourbon coffee nose. Creamy medium body. Thick swirling pruny, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, and bourbon mid-palate. Long sweet chocolatey finish. Really a beautfiully complex and elegantly integrated beer. Tastes absolutely wonderful.

Another really amazing beer from Alesmith. Rich butter sweet caramel and bourbon flavor mixes wonderfully with the speedway’s chocolate roasted flavors. The aftertaste was sweet coffee flavors with a light burnt chocolate note. Very smooth with no alcohol detectable. Its hard to improve upon a beer like speedway, but I guess it can be done.

Big thanks to Springslicker for bringing this to the Knoxville tasting. Overrated? Nope, not in the least. Pours black, as expected, with a thin tan head. Fabulous aroma, rich and powerful, and an incredibly rich palate. Its pointless for me to try to describe all the flavors in here - coffee, chocolate, wine, bourbon just to name a few. It seems to be constantly changing as it warms, with new and interesting flavors popping up - hey, was that bacon? and pecans?- that kind of thing. Great, great beer. Bottle 84 (And I swear I didn’t plan to make this #1700, it just coincidentally worked out that way. Promise)

Rating 450; 2004 BOTTLE 54/228 OPENED SIDE BY SIDE WITH A REGULAR SPEEDWAY; Thanks to Odeed for the sample at his beer tasting 8/27/06; Nose of bittersweet coffee and chocolate with vanilla; opaque brown with no head; Flavor was complex of coffee, chocolate, vanilla and a little alcohol; palate a little thinner than regular Speedway.

Sampled at RBSG06. Dark black color with a thin brown head. Rich chocolate and roasted malt aroma. Sweet chocolate and roasted malt flavor, very smooth flavor for the alcohol.

Bottle at BCTC 2009: Botte version 2006 #118. Black pour with a deep brown head. Nice aroma with notes of vanilla, oak, dark bitter chocolate, and espresso. Slick warming body- a bit hot. The flavor gives off notes of dark chocolate, bourbon, toasted oak, and burnt plum. There’s some bitter tannic notes into the finish. Not as good as the original Speedway, which I love.

2003 bottle 44/196 from Joey, shared with MaxxDaddy. The cap popped with almost no sound, and the pour was similar, with almost no carbonation. It works with this beer, however. Deep aroma, lots of vanilla, bourbon, oak, coffee, cocoa, cauliflower. Rich and thick, wonderful mouthfeel, like a chocolate shake going down. There is tons of cocoa powder in the flavor, with a sweet, oaky and corn syrup finish. Delicious. My favorite of the BA Alesmiths by far, this is one hell of a beer.