Brownings Bourbon Imperial Stout

Brewed by Brownings Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Louisville, Kentucky USA

Draft at Browning’s. From a Pappy VanWinkle barrel. Wonderful chocolate and coffee with a sweet bourbon aftertaste. Deep brown. Delicious

22 oz bottle from The Keg in Clarksville, Indiana. Pours dark and opaque with a moderate khaki head. Nice retention and gorgeous sheet lacing. Aroma is vanilla, milk chocolate, woody oak, and hints of bourbon and roasty coffee. Full bodied with subtle carbonation. Taste is milk chocolate and vanilla, with smoky charcoal and smooth woody oak. Roasty notes are subdued and blend with bourbon in the finish. I think this is the first commercial bottling by Browning’s. One of the better executions of the bourbon barrel stouts that I’ve sampled.

Thanks to Immy. 22oz bottle. Pours dark brown in color with brown head. Aroma and taste of coffee and chocolate with bitter after taste.

Draft at the brewery: poured pitch black with a medium sized brown head. Chocolate aroma with a touch of olive juice and ripe banana. Pretty nice sized amount of hoppiness and roasted chocolate malt flavor. Mild dry finish. Nice beer.

Draft. Too cold to develop aroma properlly. Slight hints of sweet oakiness. Surprisingly bitter throughout. Notes of coffee, chocolate, toffee, and smoke. Almost tart... like sour cherries. Flavor lingers forever. Nice. Makes me think of a strong porter almost. The only complaint i have is that i could hardly detect the barrel aging in this beer.

Bottle. Pours a deep brown with a full tan head. Excellent lacing on the glass. The aroma is of roasted malts, coffee, great hints of bourbon. The flavor is great. Bourbon, coffee, vanilla from the barrel. Medium mouthfeel. Excellent balance of bourbon and stout. Very well put together.

Bottle. Pours a very dark, near-black with just a tiny head. This doesn’t appear too viscous. Nose has strong vanilla up front. Actually, it bears a very strong resemblance to bourbon, including fairly strong alcohol (which get less noticed as the beer warms). It seems like the bourbon might be a little overdone here, but there are some good scents of black cherries and chocolate as well. This brew is creamy with a medium dense mouthfeel. Hints of coconut, black cherry, vanilla, chocolate hit my palate and I note this isn’t one of the roastier imperial stouts I’ve come across. Slightly smoky notes do start to come out after a while and the finish becomes pleasantly dry and hoppy. This is a good beer, but not outstanding when considering its peers.

Pours black with a moderate head. Aroma is strongly of bourbon. Sweetly vanilla and chocolate. Thick mouth feel with a slightly sour, bourbon back mouth feel. Some light chocolate, vanilla, and coffee flavors come forward. Very interesting for an Imperial Stout.