Americas Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

Brewed by Americas Brewpub
Style: Imperial Stout
Aurora, Illinois USA

Pours very dark with red only visible during the pour. A miniscule head is dark tan. The nose screams bourbon with some wood and vanilla. Flavor is also full of bourbon with coffee, wood, toffee, and sugar. Very faint hops add a bit of bitterness. Thin feel with no carbonation. Alcohol is not really noticed. The overload of bourbon doesn’t help this beer. It could use some more craft work and isn’t that far from being very nice. However, I have rated 27 impy stouts and this one got my lowest rating.

Pours dark brown/black with a thin tan head. Aroma of chocolate, bourbon, coffee. Interesting flavor, roasted malt, chocolate, and the bourbon comes through very well. First time I have seen a bottle of this, I enjoyed it.

(10/14/08) Bottle (thanks a lot archmik for this bottle!) sampled at my hostel room in Chicago. Black-colored with a bubbly brown head. Aroma of burnt malt, bourbon notes, chocolate and hints of coffee. A rather alcoholic flavor with roasted malt, bourbon and some chocolate. A drier alcoholic finish. Full-bodied. Not great.

12oz bottle from scubarex - thanks, Rex! Nice pour, thick and promising. There’s very little carbonation at all, but that in itself isn’t a knock I suppose. The aroma starts to worry me - if you were in a charitable mood you’d call it merely boozy. But it’s more than that: it’s medicinal, and in fact astringent. Sure, there are some mild hints of ’’bourbon barrel’’ in there, but it is to well-done barrel aging what Velveeta is to a nice, complex cheese. Anyways, it tastes like ass too - menthol, tongue-burning heat, burnt soy sauce, and - best of all - the taste of really old cheap red wine. Sweetness, indeed. Doesn’t Walter Payton deserve better?

Deep opaque black-brown, thin buff head. Sharp vanilla and oak nose backed by roasted malts and chocolate. Bitter with noticeable alcohol. Somewhat tart body with chocolate and bourbon notes- oak and vanilla, tannic, with earthy wood. Not a lot of heft or complexity beneath the barrel notes. Medium palate. Too much barrel, too little beer, although my enjoyment of the style results in a better-than-poor rating.

Oily black with a small brown head. Aroma is heavy on the bourbon, but with chocolate notes. And I agree with thegreenroaster, the flavor hits with a blast of bourbon, is there any beer flavor there? Tasty, but the bourbon and the stout aren’t married as well as in some bourbon barrel stouts (Goose Island, 3 Floyds).

Pour is a black oil looking with a small tan head. Aroma is first off bourbon barrel with some roasted chocolate malts bring up the rear. Flavor is not as good as the aroma as its just a full on bourbon bomb that finishes super hot. I like a nice bourbon on the rocks to sip on but this is just to heavy and the barrel aging takes over anything the actual beer would offer. Still they got the bourbon thing spot on and now i may have to go buy a bottle of Makers Mark tomorrow.

bottle in trade from raverjames. Thanks!
pours dark oily black with a rich brown head. Smell is rich and dark chocolatey malt with some bourbon and chocolate chip cookie smells. Taste is tart cherry, dark chocolate and mild bourbon. A bit tart. Oily m.f. and could be more roasty and less tart, but still not bad at all.