Arcadia Bourbon Barrel Shipwreck Porter

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

pours a deep red dark brownblack in appearance with a small tannish head. smells, chocolate, rich oak whiskey, and something tart. It is very rich. starts of chocolatey, turns tart cherries, and finishes with a very oaky whiskey notes. nice alcohol warming. I had this one over the summer and have been looking for it since. Very good but like most things not quite as perfect as I remember.

blackish chestnut borwn color, golden brown edges & creamy and tall pillowy medium tan head. aroma is vanilla, chocolate malt, a little roasty too. some irish whiskey too. flavor is a little hot like whiskey with some chocolate malt. not much more, that’s it! was expecting more character, but there is a little bit of dark molasses somewhere in the middle. also some caramel malt in the background.

I like the fact that I’ve been really split on this brewer, so it would help to reduce bias to a reasonable minimum. I really appreciate the distinction of this, perhaps from bourbon-barrel aging. I’ll have to try more of these specialty-barrel-aged beers. First impression was the very chalky-half-sweetened-cocoa on the aroma with some kind of fruit, figs maybe. Fumey. Rest of the beer comformed well to this.

Pours a oily black with a very thin tan head. Pretty cool smell, dark malts, brown sugar, light caramel, and some dark chocolate. Definitely bourbon aged, wow, heavy bourbon. Very yummy. Really smooth as well. Very nice chocolate and smooth caramle flavors to go along with the heavy bourbon. Get a sweet molasses taste towards the finish, which compliments the bourbon flavor quite nicely.

Bottle from Capone’s. Deep black pour with 1-finger tan head. Aroma of roasty chocolate malt, figs, molasses, brown sugar, oaky bourbon. Tastes roasty malty, on the tart side, with oaky bourbon, cherry, big molasses, rauchy notes, and dark chocolate. Complex in flavor and aroma, this one isn’t super richly malty, but is very roasty, fruity, with a lot of molasses, port winey fruit, and oaky bourbon.

22-oz. bottle courtesy of tjthresh. Pours black with a small creamy light brown head, mostly lasting, good lacing. Aroma is heavy malt (molasses, chocolate, burnt toast), average hops (perfume, flowers), average yeast (sweat, leather) with notes of bourbon, prunes, cola and vanilla. Medium bodied, oily texture, flat carbonation and a bitter finish. Average duration, moderate sweetness and bitterness, light acidity; sour milk and bourbon flavor.

22oz. bottle. Semi-sweet chocolate and bourbon aroma, malty and roasty with some lighter coffeeish hints, vanilla and surprisingly apparent alcohol. Dark brown-black color with a creamy, mostly lasting tan head. Lightly bitter, tangy and roasty to start, becoming a bit sweeter and seeing a blend of dark chocolate and bourbon dominate the profile thereafter, with some lightly grainy, woody notes surfacing very late. Thin, smooth and perhaps even a touch astringent on the palate, drying and very lightly warming with a medium-full body. Nothing subtle about the bourbon barrel aging process here. Could use a bit more refinement.

Bottle. A little too watery for my taste. Flavors don’t really go very well together. Average @ best.