Barley Island Beastie Barrel Stout

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

Bottle (22 oz). Bourbon and oatmeal raisin cookie aroma. Midnight black with a thin tan head. Chocolate and oat malt flavor with just a hint of bourbon. Much lighter body than expected. Nice taste but pretty light.

22oz bottles acquired in trades with atpayne & Sephiroth (thanks!). Poured a dark black color with brown edges and a larger sized tan head. Aromas of wood, vanilla, bourbon, roast, oak, light coffee, and chocolate. Tastes of vanilla, lighter wood, oats, bourbon, roast, and light coffee. Soft and creamy body. I’ll go against the grain on this one as I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to hopdog. Pours a deep black with a smaller bubbly deep tan head that left some slight lacing. Aroma of bourbon, oak, vanilla, some chocolate, roasted malts and light chocolate. Flavor of roasted malts, oats, bourbon, vanilla and a touch of coffee. Barrel aging done very nicely.

Jet black...amber head. Aroma of coffee and bourbon. Taste of coffee, bourbon, chocolate dark malt and nuts

Pours a pitch black color with a medium diminishing light brown head. Good aroma of chocolate and bourbon. Good flavor of chocolate, mild hops, bourbon and roasted malt. The body is light to medium and dry with lively carbonation.

Draft @ S. Indiana Brewery & Winery Fest: Jet black pour with a frothy tan head. Lots of boozy bourbon and vanillan oak in the nose. The body offers a more rounded chocolate and marshmellow notes. The finish ends boozy as well. This is a fresh batch to be released in bombers in November. I’ll have to grab a fresh bottle to lay down for a while because this could really sing with some age on it.

Expected more from this. Poured nearly opaque black with an ample frothy brown head. Slight note of vanilla, wisp of bourbon, touch of oak. Nothing intense. Very subtle. Stouts should not be subtle. Especially bourbon barrel-aged ones. Also, too much carbonation and too light in the body. The flavor was weak notes of bourbon, coffee, chocolate. Disappointing.

Served on cask at brewpub. Pours a very dark black with a minimal dark tan head. Aroma is bourbon and coffee. Very strong bourbon aroma. Taste is like a Kentucky Breakfast Stout with a lot more coffee and a lot more bourbon. No subtelty here. Tasted more like a hard alcohol drink than a beer. ABV must be extraordinary. Not very drinkable due to huge ABV. If you love coffee and bourbon, this one is for you, but it certainly isn’t for the feint of heart.