Barley Island Beastie Barrel Stout

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

pours a deep dark brown. aroma is bourbon, vanilla, burnt malts, chocolate, and toffee. drinks hot with bourbon but has sweet caramel, vanilla, toffee, and malt. finishes hot with bourbon as well. will be great with age

nice subtle aromas, of burnt sugary oatmeal and light bourbon barrel .. . good lacing, decent head and all that .. a simple brew, easy to drink.. nice stuff.. but an average bourbon version brew, as weird as that sounds... You don’t win friends with salad ..

Dark dark brown to black with a quickly diminishing tan head. The nose is vanilla, chocolate and roast. A bit sweet, but that might be the bourbon barrel vanilla as much as the beer. Full creamy mouth, slightly higher than average carbonation. Creamy and malty sweet. Noticeable, but not dominating vanilla, ala bourbon. Chocolate and roast backfill. Fruity acidity in the finish. Long lingering charcoal roast. Perhaps the slightest hint of bourobn after the aftertaste. Not bad.
Earlier Rating: 4/17/2007 Total Score: 3.2
Pours a dark dark brown with a thin tan head, thinning to nothing but a glass hugging brown foam. The nose is very boozy. I know it’s just the barrel, but the nose makes me think alcohol. Whiskey, a little wood, a little chocolate malt, floral hops, something green seems a bit off. The mouthfeel is about average for the style, low carbonation and a hint of thickness, but not too chewy, not too fizzy. The flavors are in line with the aroma, but the alcohol seems to come out a bit more. I have a hard time believing the ABV is < 5. Chocolate malt character over the whiskey slightly woody flavor. The alcohol whiskey element is so sweet, a little hoppy, not much roast, but a little acidic. Boozy finish, whiskey aftertaste. The whiskey flavors balance the sweetness, but I find this to be a bit much.

Tasted at GABF 2008. Black pour with tan head. Nose of roasted malts with chocolate and vanilla. Flavor is the same, with bourbon and wood added for good measure.

Just another fantastic bottle from Acknud. Or so I expect. Here goes: Poured really black with quit a dark tan head. It’s the aroma of smooth burnt toasted malt. Full bodied with almost chewy carbonation. Flavor is suggestive of those expensive Paradox barrel stouts. Notes of chocolate, wood, bourbon and vanilla. Whoops. I just figured out why barrel is in the name. Finishes smooth and somewhat astringent - or maybe that’s my mouth trying to suck up the last flavor bits from my gums. Seriously, it is very good. Right in there with the Paradox and arguably much above Old Engine Oil Special Reserve. Hoosiers definitely rule.

Vanity, what is vanity, is it wanting to rate a beer with the word Beastie in it just because your internet screen name is beastiefan2k. Nah. But I did want to try this at GABF, but never got around to it with all the other good beers around. Then a shining opportunity came when Schroppfy rated this and well he had a bottle for me to rate, score! Well, this pours completely black and very thick. The visible thickness of the beer is a welcomed surprise. The head is small but strong with a sticky thick lacing. The head itself is a nice brown color. The aroma has a lot of chocolate and strong wood alcohol essence but the alcohol is not too strong for the thick, lightly roasted stout-y aspects. Also there is a thick cereal sweetness. In the taste that wood alcohol essence grows, so it interferes with the other chocolate flavors. However, the my favorite part is the mouthfeel on this brew. Its just so thick and lusciously velvety. There is a reduced carbonation and it is tongue coating. I feel like the Venom’s alien symbiote is taking over my tongue. This is probably the best BA low alcohol beer I have ever had, not much competition there though. Hmmm... now I need the Beastie Barrel Porter, damn my vanity.
12oz bottle into a Chimay miniature goblet.

bottle. Dark brown/black pour with a brown head, the aroma is of vanilla. It starts out a bit creamy and finishes a bit bitter.

22 oz. bottle. Pours dark brown to black with a small beige head. The aroma is roasted malts, vanilla, light bourbon, dark fruits, and light chocolate. The flavor is more roasted malt, bourbon, medium sweet, slight hints of vanilla and smoke. This was medium bodied and very smooth. A decent, but by no means great beer.
Earlier Rating: 11/19/2008 Total Score: 3.8
12 oz. bottle from Crown #19. Pours a black color with a somewhat fizzy dark tan head that collapses into a creamy tan layer. The aroma has a nice roasted quality along with some milk chocolate. The flavor opens with strong roasted malt and chocolate flavors. Midway and into the finish, the bourbon barrel flavors work there way in and tops things off nicely. Silky smooth going down and it leaves a dry woody taste on the palate. This exceeded my expectations.