Barley Johns The Dark Knight (Returns)

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

Hand-bottled bomber. Thanks, Dodd--I still can’t believe your generosity. Black, still. Headless, laceless. Huge bourbony nose--too much bourbon and not enough porter, but not in a bad way. You just can’t smell the beer. Medium body, kinda oily. Lots of bourbon on the mid-palate. A little roast and chocolate on there as well. Finish is fairly restrained.

A Beer.... Wait that isn’t correct. A dancing delight on your taste buds while soothing the inner beast elixer is more like it. This beer is on a level on it’s own. There is nothing like it nor would I want there to be. I won’t break it down to the individual notes and what not - Just know that it is somthing to enjoy and to add to the 1000 things you must do before you die.

A beautifully done hand bottle courtesy of my Secret Santa. Dark Knight version. Pours an inky black with a hint of brown at the edges, slight dark tan head rises up before fading away. Carbonation in good shape, an excellent sign! Aroma is big and intense, with chocolate, coffee, roast notes, bourbon, and alcohol all making themselves well know. I sniffed this for at least 15 minutes, it was that interesting. Flavor was also massively complex, with chocolate, coffee, roast, bourbon, molasses, some random grains that are reminiscent of oats, vanilla, and cherry. Cherry showed much more as it warmed. Bourbon definite in both the flavor profile and enhanced by a clear alcohol component. Reminded me if someone took a DFH WWS and dropped a shot of bourbon into it. All and all, an outstanding beer that is worthy of its current top 50 hype. Only complaint would be the presence of some slightly rough alcohol notes and some could say the bourbon is too obvious. But I loved it. Methinks this is closest to an Imperial Stout in style. Huge thanks to Secret Santa for this beauty.

(on tap at the brewpub) Poured black with a nice tan head that faded to a ring around the glass. Initially I thought this beer was going to be a straight-up bourbon bomb, since all I smelled was bourbon at first. This was deceptive though, because as it warmed it turned oh so much better, as the bourbon yielded to smells of port and chocolate which was really unexpected. The taste was a nice iinitial hit of bourbon/vanilla, with the middle being chocolate, and the finish rounding out with a nice roastiness that reminds you it’s still a porter, which is nice because the bourbon blended quite well and didn’t rob this beer of complexity like other barrel aged beers. There was some slight alcohol that singed the nostrils and danced on the tongue, but it was minimal. The beer was thick, but not real thick, and the finish lasted forever. This was a complex, well-crafted beer.

[On-tap at the Barley John’s] Pours black with a dark tan head that remained the entire time that I drank it. Aroma is initially a lot of bourbon--pretty sweet, chocolate, vanilla. As it warmed the aroma completely changed with the bourbon becoming nearly imperceptible and being replaced by raisin, port and roasted malt. Taste is bourbon and chocolate at first, but like the aroma it too takes on more raisin taste and some alcohol the longer you drink it. Medium-thick mouthfeel. Very smooth with a long finish. Could stand to be a little thicker, but overall very well done. This is definitely a beer that is a sipper that demands that you take your time to let the different flavors come out--most likely it could score significantly lower at large tastings or festivals due to this.

Black colour with a small brown head. Light roasted aroma with fruity, alcohol and vanilla sweet notes. Roasted malty flavor with dried dark fruit notes and hints of vanilla. Alcohol sweet finish.

bottle. it has a black color with a small head. the aroma is of burbon. the taste is also of burbon. it is quite strong. lots of alcoburn.

Growler sampled with J after spending a few weeks in the fridge. I’m hoping this didn’t ruin our shot at this. And a special shout out to mreusch for the hook up - thanks Matt! Wish I had better things to say of this, but here it is: disappointment from the first whiff. Interesting aroma of semi-bourbon and hot sugary molasses - nothing great in my book, and certaintly nowhere close to what I was expecting. Flavor was much the same - cloyingly hot alcohol, super sweet, molasses, and hard to muscle down. Few hints of underlying dark fruits. I love BIG beers, but this brew is completely out of control. Considering the lofty ratings, I can only assume this has to be better from the source - but with what I had to work with, I don’t understand how this is top 50.