Barley Island Beastie Barrel Stout

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

On cask at GTMW. Poured black with a spotty cap of dark tan head. The aroma was sweeter and toasty with lots of chocolate and dry brandy-like accents.. enticing. The flavor found semi-sweet chocolate and toasted caramel at the core with a restrained, yet complementary barrel treatment.. sweet, roasty finish with chocolate, vanilla, and bourbon. Lighter carbonation on the palate with a dry barrel impression.. felt good, and quite satisfying on the finish. Nice one!
Earlier Rating: 8/5/2007 Total Score: 3.8
Bottle thanks to Mike, I believe. Poured a clear, deeper brown with a cool swirly dusting of deep beige head and what appeared to be legs running down the sides of the glass. The aroma definitely focused on the barrel aspect, with sweet vanilla, bourbon, and lightly-charred oak representin’... although none of these characteristics were abrasive, and the underlying stout was quite nice with medium-roasted chocolate and mild lactic notes. The flavor had nice roasty chocolate again at the core with some sweet oats.. barrel accent was very well executed with vanilla bean and bourbon accents.. finish was somewhat long, beginning with roasted baker’s chocolate and transitioning to sweet bourbon, oak char, and mild lactic sourness. About medium-bodied on the palate with higher carbonation (a touch too high.. filling up the mouth too rapidly). All in all a very good beer!

12/06/2007 and 8/13/2008: Barley Island’s Bourbon Barrel-Aged Oatmeal Stout Tavern Style Ale has a good aroma of vanilla, roasted malts, hints of licorice, and some dark fruits and smoke. The color of the beer is nearly black and is has a small frothy tan-colored head. The flavor is really smooth and mellow as the vanilla, roasted and caramelized malts, chocolate, and slightly dry bourbon and charred wood mend together. This beer has a medium to medium-full body and is quite smooth with a bit of a creamy texture. This particular bottle is much better than the first one I had. That one was really bland and unexciting. This one really has some barrel aged aromas and flavors as the vanilla and some slight bourbon notes are definitely noticeable. This beer isn’t stellar, but it is still quite tasty for being a barrel-aged oatmeal stout. It is really well-balanced and although it might not be high in alcohol, it is still a good deal at only $4.49+tax per bomber! This is a solid sessionable barrel-aged oatmeal stout (first one?) at that price and probably the cheapest "barrel-aged" beer available!

22 fl. oz. bottles from Westside Wine and Liquors in West Harrison, Ohio. Rating #115 for this beer...

Bottle via stfun. Brownish color. Smell of bourbon, vanilla, oak, malt, chocolate and toast. Taste of Chocolate, hops, malt, bourbon, oak, vanilla, caramel and roasted coffee. This was very weak. The bourbon was mellow and a tad bit too weak.

The aroma is bourbon, vanilla, chocolate and booze with some sweet malt and molasses notes. Black body with a thin mocha head. Decent flavor with roast malt, vanilla, bourbon and some burnt bitter and sweet chocolate notes.

Mild whiskey and oak aroma,some roastedness,these aromas fade quickly to a bitter chocolate,taste is a mild chocolate and coffee grounds tastevery smooth ,almost slick mouthfeel,not much of the bourbon in the taste,very pleasant succulent brew,would not pay a ton of money for this. Thanks Kingpin

Courtesy of CigarCityBrew. Pours deep darkness with nice looking mocha head. Handsome beer. The aroma has barrel wood notes, sweet bourbon and mild chocolate to go along with roasty notes and faint oxidation in the background. Delicious flavor with creamy mouthfeel ushering in sweet mildly roasted malts, rich chocolate and wood notes. I get a mildly building bourbon sensation and an oatmeal twang in the back. It seems to thin out just a bit into the finish. Tasty.

Bottle shared by EDA. Too much bourbon for a beer like this. Kind of oaty, lots of bourbon aroma. Vegetal, chalky, more bourbon flavor. A bit wheaty. Flavor isn’t too bad.

Bottle courtesy Degarth. Pours black with a small tan head. Aroma of bourbon, roasted malt, and licorice. Taste is the same as aroma. Medium mouthfeel with a mild to moderate amount of bitterness. Very good.