Arcadia Bourbon Barrel Shipwreck Porter

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

I was blown away by this one--wish I would have purchased more when it was available. Aroma--if you’ve ever stuck your nose in a bourbon barrel then you woule recognize that as the aroma of this beer. Black with a huge tan head. The palate is very full for a porter. Great bourbon flavor without all of the heat you get in many BA brews. Lots of yummy vanilla and oak. Fantastic brew.

Arcadia Shipwreck Porter 22 oz bomber Moderate pour in an English pint Recent bottling, wrecked 11/06 Poured black, with clear ruddy brown highlights, with a light brown frothy mostly lasting head. Smelt of strong bourbon, charred wood, burnt sugar, dark coffee roast, light vanilla. Taste was upfront strong bitter sweet burnt wood and light sweet dark chocolate and vanilla followed by harsh burnt wood and moderate sweet molasses on a moderate ashy finish. Palate was medium to full bodied, lively carbonated, oily, and moderately astringent. Overall, this porter carries the taste of bourbon wood exquisitely. The strong taste does hide other subtle notes, though.

Has a great bourbon aroma.Pours dark brown with a big tan head.Has a hint of light chocolate with a smooth alcohol taste.Full mouthfeel with a very smooth finish.Really enjoyed this one.

Pours super dark with a small tan head. Aroma is of chocolate, vanillla, coffee, etc. Flavor is divine. Very silky and thick palate. Another wonderful beer from Michigan! Possibly one of my favorites of this miraculous style.

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.

BARREL AGED PORTER ON DLD06.I WAS DRINKING STOUTS ALL DAY AND THIS WAS EXCELLANT.A GOOD PORTER WITH COCOA AND BOURBON TASTE

Dark, light tan head that fades, after a minute or so there’s nothing more than the occasional brownish wisp on top of a dark brown beer. Nose is full of bourbon, but it’s a bitter bourbon, sharp, some tobacco notes, bit woody. Flavor is quite nice. Rather than being overpowering, the bourbon melds really nicely here, good whiskey-ish undertones dance with coffee bitterness and roasted malts. Props to Arcadia for this, there’s not that overpowering, cloying bourbon-barrel sweetness that plagues Lord knows how many barreled beers flooding the market lately, this one has some great woody/boozy character that merges wonderfully with the beer underneath. In other words, it actually tastes like a beer with bourbon notes, rather than tasting like someone dropped a shotglass of crappy whiskey into a glass of lousy imperial stout.

Unpolished black with barely a brownness peeking at the bottom. Small tanned, evenly foamy top. Collar stays thin and tight with a broken skim once the top creeps away. Not much lacing, a bit of low ended sheeting and skragly, boney fingered strings. Aroma is deeply whiskey-fied with modest maple and vanilla sweetness hovering with very light roasted chocolate. Perhaps a bit understated and uncomplexing, but man do I like it. Same goes for the taste. Deeply whiskey toned and warming with a nice inlay of vanilla tossed in. Dark and deceptive. Intriguingly layered in depth with the whiskey; first the vanilla, very open and soaking, then some maple, a thin peel of sweet banana, and ends with a puff of chocolate resonating under the heat late after the finish. A nice little roasty effect is also evident as it begins to peak interest, but the chocolate puff and fluff is the mainstay once the warming begin to set in. A tender pull of dark vanilla sweetness is left soaking into the cheeks as the warmth sits firmly in the throat, belly, and mind. Quite nice. Feel is left with a middle grounding of mediumish body, leaving the warmth do alot of the work and not so much the body or flavor. Perhaps a tad to whiskey-like. The front is the most empty, gains then fades, then gains again, and as already stated, mostly in warmth and not so much in thickness.But all the flavors inside the warmth do keep it interesting enough to persue more sippage. And that is what you’ll do with this big warming brew, sip and sip and sip, through and through and through. Quite nice overall really. Impressionable, yes, but could use more stature and thickness compared to other, more complexing Porters. Whiskey Oak-aged or not. Still...a very solid Porter worth checking out.