Barley Johns The Dark Knight (Returns)

Brewed by Barley Johns Brew Pub
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
New Brighton, Minnesota USA

Pours nearly black with a very strong bourbon aroma with a hint of coffee. The bourbon/alcohol flavor overwhelms this beer.

RB #800. From tap at the brewpub, first run, not the Returns version. Pours dark black with a chocolate creamy head, beautiful. Aroma of bourbon, chocolate and coffee. Flavour is alcohol and raisins. Very dominant bourbon notes and quite unbalanced. Not my liking. 6-5-6-2-12

Blind tasting at sk8vikings porter / stout tasting, beer no 18, huge thanks to brewfiend for trading. This was the real Returns. Pours dark brown with brown rim from the lacing head. Aroma is chemical, burning alcohol. Slight chocolate malty toffee flavour but heavily interrupted by the alcohol note. The chemical note is mainly present in the aroma and not the flavour with quite mellow flavoured. 5-4-7-3-13

Scores are a mesh of the two tastings.

RBSG 07. Tap at brewpub. Smells and taste like rum cake. Would be great during the holidays. I think I would have liked the original better.

RBSG 07. Tap at brewpub. 6 oz serving. Pours a near black, viscous and a no head. aroma is licorice, toffee, smoke, char, sweetness, lots of bourbon with vanilla and subdued oak. Raisin and plum fruitiness in the flavor, alcohol - bourbon and rum-raisin cake more char- tons of dark chocolate with more alcohol in the end. Damn good. Technically this is just the Dark Knight since this was from a fresh Pappy Van Winkle cask and not the re-used one which they have aging right now.

On tap at Barley Johns on 05/26/2009. This was the Dark Knight Returns. Dark black body with a thin tan head. Big bourbon and yeasty aroma on a roast and chocolate background. Bourbon, molassas, roast and chocolate flavor with light caramel. Medium full body with moderate carbonation and a bit of alcohol warming. 8/5/8/3/16 - 4.0 Jun 26, 2007: On tap at Barley Johns during the RBSG 2007 Pub Crawl. Dark black body with some ruby hints and a small creamy dark brown head. Sweet caramel, molassas, chocolate, rum soaked fruit and raisin aromas with a light bourbon background. Strong bourbon flavor hits you at first, some rum soaked fruit, cocoa, molassas blend in shortly afterward. Somewhat astringent with a bitter end. Somewhat high carbonation. Overall a tasty beer, but certainly not worth the $7 for a 5oz pour. 9/5/8/3/18 - 4.3

Hand Bottle. Thank to Stine for the Bottle and Footbalm for filling it. I got this after a week and a half delay with the idiots at Fedex. I was glad when it finally got here. Pours a deep dark body with very thin head. Aroma is of vanilla, bourbon like qualities. Flavor is vanilla with the bourbon qualities overpowering anything else. That’s not a bad thing but this beer became more and more into a sherry like quality that I was expecting something that was more rich than sweet. This became a nice sipper. Very low carbonation. Maybe this is best left for those who are lucky enough to get this fresh at the brewpub. I love bourbon, but this is a slaughter of bourbon on a porter.

Hand bottle courtesy of Stine: Poured a pitch-black color porter with a small dirty brown foamy head. Aroma of bourbon is quite overpowering with some sweet malt notes also noticeable. Taste is overpowered by bourbon and I had a hard time picking-up other flavour. Body is quite full with alcohol from the barrel really coming out. I was a bit surprised as I was not expecting so much bourbon to come out in such fashion and I am probably not the biggest bourbon fan around.

Approximately 5 or 6 oz. pour of the Dark Knight (not the Dark Knight Returns), on tap at the brewpub. I tried this during the pub crawl at the RateBeer Summer Gathering 2007 in the Twin Cities, MN on Friday, June 22, 2007. This porter is aged in Pappy Van Winkle 23 years old barrels. For the non-whiskey fans out there, that is widely considered to be one of the best bourbons in existence. <P>Not surprisingly, strong bourbon and, to a lesser extent, oak scents dominate the powerful aroma, which also features raisin, chocolate, and berry. The smell is very yeasty and alcohol-heavy. The yeast in particular stands out in the aroma until the drinker reaches the very bottom of the glass. Pours a surprisingly sparkling dark brown with an amber hue and a small amount of light brown head. Produces a moderate amount of lacing. <P>The flavor is very bourbony and malty. The alcohol is defintely noticeable; hops, not so much. Chocolate, port, vanilla, carmel, and nut flavors. A touch of roasted coffee is present in the finish, although there is not as much coffee flavor as I expected (but I’m not a big coffee fan anyway, so that’s a good thing for me). Reminds me of a bourbon pecan pie in that the bourbon really makes its presence felt even given the strong underlying flavors. <P>Straight bourbon aftertaste. There is a distinct alcohol bite in the palate, almost to the point of burning the throat. Thus, the palate sensations are reminiscent of those experienced from a bourbon (albeit in a toned-down form, of course), and that appeals to the whiskey fan that I am. Remarkably smooth but nonetheless lively in the palate. <P>I’ve heard some complaints that the new Dark Knight is too bourbony. I understand the objection, because the bourbon flavors are quite strong even by bourbon barrel beer standards, but I certainly do not share it. This is one of the better porters in the world heavily infused with the flavors of one of better whiskeys in the world, and, as a lover of both great beer and great whiskey, it’s a near-perfect blend to me.