Blue Mountain Double Barrel Aged Chocolate Cherry Imperial Stout

Brewed by Blue Mountain Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Afton, Virginia USA

(Sample Date: 3/12/2009 Source:Capital Ale House - Innsbrook) Beer dinner hosted by Taylor Smack. Dark Hollow to Heaven Hills whiskey barrel then to Cab Franc cask with cocoa tips and 20# cherries, kegged and served off nitro tap. Complex needless to say. Aroma is awesome with lots of oak then vanilla, cocoa and some cherry and whiskey. Opaque with a fluffy dark tan head. Lots of cocoa and whiskey in flavor with deep roast and coffee. Cherries come through in the finish. Medium body with dry moderately bitter and touch astringent finish. Coffee and wood become more assertive as the beer warms. WOW

On nitro tap at Capital Ale House - Midlothian for the Blue Mountain Beer Dinner on 03/12/2009. Very dark black body with a large creamy light brown head. Huge chocolate aroma with a bit of cherry and faint bourbon with hints of vanilla. Sweet bourbon flavor changes into cocoa with hints of coffee before sliding into cherries. Medium full body, probably full body if not on a nitro tap, with moderately low carbonation.

Did someone say cherries? Got lucky with finding this one at the capital ale house in midlothian, val left over from a dinner for the Blue Mountain Brewery. Maybe I am a bit bias as this is from the western part of my home state. Lots of lacing on the glass. Thick but very smooth with strong hints of chocolate and cherries of course. I noticed some pinot noir there on the finish. Very different but very awesome all at the same time. Great beer that I hope I am able to one day get in a bottle just to see what happens.

Served on nitro tap at the brewery. This is the Dark Hollow aged in pinor noir barrels from a winery about 3 miles away with cherries and Mexican cocoa nibs. Pours a very dark brown color with the head you would expect from a nitro-tap, tan, thick, absolutely creamy and perpetual head retention. The aroma is oak, vanilla, maple, roasted malts, cherries and chocolate. The taste is cherries, oak with strong notes coming through from the wine. Some faint chocolate and warming alcohol. Tannic and full bodied. Interesting, but it doesn’t come across as nicely as the Dark Hollow alone.