Barley Island Beastie Barrel Porter

Brewed by Barley Island Brewing
Style: Porter
Noblesville, Indiana USA

(22 oz bottle: Obtained 23-Sep-05 in trade with atpayne, thanks Adam!) A loud "pffft" and explosive head had me worried right out of the gate that I let this possibly infected beer age too long, but this is a very delicious beer. Moderate roast and light chocolate are enhanced by a pleasant earthy and mushroom flavor early, but also by the wonderful, sweet bourbon character throughout. I think the bourbon is done perfectly here; it’s prominent but not dominant and nowhere close to being overwhelming, allowing the roast and other malty flavors plenty of opportunity to express themselves. A little more roastiness wouldn’t hurt though. The nose is less impressive though because the roast is quite light, and the pleasantness of the moderate bourbon aroma is offset by a slight smell of apple skins. Body is medium-full and far less carbonated than I expected given the glassful of head I got on the pour. Dark brown in color with all sorts of tan specs slowly settling to the bottom of the glass. Each pour results in mostly a glass of head, so it takes several pours to finish this beer, and even on the final pour, the head is unrelenting. Tan in color, becoming mountainous with peaks and valleys as it begins to slowly settle down to a centimeter in height. Thick, chunky foam sticks to the glass. Except for the annoying carbonation issues and the modest apple skin in the aroma and flavor, this is a very enjoyable and tasty bourbon beer.

Bottle: Dark, dark brown, big light but sturdy head. Aroma is certainly woody. Mildly roasty flavor, woody finish, and not a very good wood taste either, tastes like I licked a 2x4.

Almost black colour. Head is light but also rocky. The aroma is a bit woody, roasty and chocolatey. The body is way too fizzy and overwhelmingly woody.

<i<Bottled. Dark brown, very lively head. Light vanilla aroma. Medium sweet and fairly roasty, somewhat overcarbonated. Balanced barrel character, notes of honey. Fairly low bitterness.

Sampled at Dickinsonbeer’s NJ January gathering. what an ugly-ass label!! and not in a good way. dark brown semi-opaque color, light tan thick foamy head. aroma is acrid and metallic. some chocolate malt underneath. flavor is diactyl, tangy, butterscotch sweet malt. tangy off-metallic aftertaste. train wreck.

Colour is dark mahogony with a thick, beige head. Roasty vanilla aroma, with some wood and whiskey. Quite bubbly and malty at the front and fairly smooth as the beer settled. Toasty flavours with some whiskey and caramel. A little acidic at the end but overall pretty good.

Thanks to BBB63 for this. At time of sample, it is only a month and a half old and was refridgerated the entire time. The beer pours to a thin brown body with a super fizzy tan head. The aroma is strange woods and light roasted malts and isn’t especially good. Not certain if it has spoiled but signs sorta indicate yes. The flavor is dry roasted malts, wood, and nothing especially good.

Huge (HUGE) light tan head, lightish dark brown body. Yeasty cheese citrus aroma. Blah... infection is covering it up. Thin body. Trying to rate based on my preinfection perspective, but also noting to log the infection in the rating. Dry lactose blahness.