Arcadia Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

Probably the strongest Stout I’ve had. Not just dark, but black. First you taste the bourbon from the barrel, then you taste the stout, next comes the coffee flavor. Not bad a beer but it goes down with a kick.

Draft at MBGF. Poured a black color with a moderate frothy light brown head that diminished slowly and produced sticky legs. Good roasted malt and sweet bourbon aroma. Full body with a smooth texture. Complex sweet stout flavor with a smooth bourbon woody finish. Very well balanced barrel stout.

Cask @ MBG dark opaque black with decent tan head, fades to ring of film. Tough to get past the chocolate in the aroma, some bourbon and caramel/mollasses. Again lots of chocolate in initial flavor, turns to bourbon, light coffee, and a little wood/oak character in the finish and aftertaste. Very well done. Just enough bourbon and not too much coffee.

The 5th and final beer on my must try list at the Michigan Brewers Guild Fest of 2005, CASK! :

Opaque with a light tight tan head and some lace and oily film. The aroma has notes of vanilla, oak, milk chocolate, toasted walnut, french roast, and a hint of alcoholic vapor. The taste starts with the sweet malt at the forefront supported by a balanced undertone of hop bitterness and coffee bitterness. I get a little vanilla and oak, but not really bourbon per say. The feel is oily and lush with just a minor bite at the end. Great beer and beergeek worthy, what a great day to be a stoutie!

Cask @ MBGF: Aroma has lots of chocolate, caramel, and light bourbon. Dark brown with a small tan head. Chocolate, caramel and vanilla with some really subdued coffee. Bourbon and lightly hopped finish. A slight improvement in the regular version, which was very good to begin with. Bourbon is more mellow in this one compared to the Bourbon London Porter. Very nice. Another one I’d like to see hit the shelves in stores so I can buy some more.