AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout

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

2003 bottle Much thanks to oteyj. The real standout of an all-star tasting night. Dark Obsidian pour with only a few bubbles of head. Aroma is intense sweet bourbon, wood, Robust chocolate and smooth vanilla ripple through as well. Mouthfeel is Thick and viscous with very little carbonation. Superbly Oak Aging here, A lot of bourbon and Wood notes in the Flavor but the Original Speedway Chocolate and Coffee explosion is still recognizable. The first sip is Sweet and woody, with high amount of vanilla and booze, this softens in the middle with a shot of expresso and some nice roast. The finish is boozy with notes of chocolate and mocha. Even after the swallow the warming chocolate lingers. Words Cannot do this beer justice.

2006 bottle shared with half owner Eric. Pours an almost black color with a fairly big bubled brown head. God this shit is good. Aroma has tons of chocolate and bourbon followed by molasses, roasted malt and some coffee and oak notes. Flavor is full, rich and goddamn good. Bourbon integrates so well in this beer it is ridiculous. Coffee notes in the nose aren’t really evident on the tongue...but the wood, vanilla, bourbon, chocolate, brown sugar, molasses and slight hop bite is noticeable in every sip. The progression from cold to warm is quite amazing in this beer...a real gem. Hell yeah.

Bottle 2007. As smooth as a babys ass and the aroma is so much better. The taste is of dark fruit, coffee, vanilla and sweet chocolate. Complex and wonderful.

Sample from a bottle of 2006. Many thanks to Moejuck for providing the bottle and Rogueone for saving half of her sample for me (you are the Queen!). This is one of very few beers I would kill to try and I was starting to worry that it might come to that. Pours dark brown with a minimal head. Aroma is heavy bourbon with some chocolate. Alcohol hits you at first taste, but quickly smoothes out to a megaton of chocolate with a creamy vanilla finish. The only thing keeping me from giving this a perfect score is the fact that it has way less of a coffee presence than regular Speedway. Aside from that, amazing beer. Lived up to the hype.

2003, bottle something out of 196, i think there were 2 releases thus 196 is the production from the more recent release. The nose on this was amazing, fresh brownies, burnt sugar, molassas, touch of dry coffee. Cold to very warm the profile changed which just added to the experience. This could last another 5 years. Looks like almost no carbonation, but when it hits the palate is sparkles. Super smooth and subtle. Booze hits you but later on... Finish is good, malty, but not super long. Amazing bottle of 6 yaer old beer. Amazing it was only $22

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.

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)

Aged an additional 11 months. Big, roasty, black, bold, anise, coffee, chocolate, alcohol, warming, creamy full mouthfeel, full-bodied. Finishes dry, somewhat bitter coffee. All these flavors blend together so well.