Full Sail Black Gold Imperial Stout Bourbon Barrel Aged

Brewed by Full Sail Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Hood River, Oregon USA

Name: Black Gold Imperial Stout, BA
Date: November 21, 2009
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting, Cellar Party
Appearance: black, fine tan head
Aroma: sweet bourbon and dark chocolate aroma, oak and vanilla
Flavor: rich roasted malt flavor, big dose of bourbon, vanilla sweetness, touch of caramel, light oak
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4

Sampled at the Olde Rabbit’s Foot pre-release courtesy of SpencerDB. Pours black with a very thin tan head. Captivating aroma of bourbon, chocolate, and dark fruit. The taste is every bit as good with vanilla, chocolate, licorice, and booze. Moderate warming alcohol. I would love to get my hands on another bottle of this. Fantastic.

Brought this to the ORF tasting and I couldn’t have been happier with it. Absolutely delicious. Aroma was of licorice, dark malt chocolate, bourbon, and I want to say some kind of deep fruit flavor but I couldn’t place it. This poured pitch black with only a small, but incredibly dark caramel/brown head. It looked outstanding, smelled outstanding, and now for the taste... if you couldn’t guess... it was outstanding. By far the smoothest BA imperial stout I’ve ever tasted. It was buttery going down, dominated your entire palate. It seriously felt like every single taste bud was being coated with buttery bourbon and chocolate syrup. I want more... much much more. Thanks for throwing this in Brad. Cheers

Had a big sample of this at the ORF pre-release tasting. Thanks SpencerDB for sharing! Holy god. This beer kicks ass. It is one of the smoothest, creamiest, easy to drink beers I’ve ever encountered. It pours jet black with a scary dark brown head. Aroma is licorice, anise, huge bourbon presence, dark chocolate truffles, vanilla extract, caramel. Taste is buttery smooth and rich, lots of mellowed out warming bourbon, rich chocolates. Absent is what plagues imperial stouts: too much cheap coffee, roast, ash, alcohol. This feels like it has been aging for 2 or more years. Overall, I ’d say this was the highlight of the ORF tasting apart from the DR BA Baltic Porter.

Woody vanilla caramel and whiskey aromas and taste. Pitch black with a smooth/creamy texture. Outsanding!

Heavy brown pour with quick tan head, lays still. Beautiful dark body. BIG bourbon on the nose, which does translate. Reminds of Older Viscosity and Bourbon County in terms of the whiskey up front, and I almost feel I can name which barrel it came from. Velvety, pretty good weight, with chocolate and smoky (pipe/cigar) notes. Lots of bourbon and booze throughout, maybe some orange zest, and ends a bit sour (grapes) and dry (dunkel).

22oz bomber, 2009 vintage, courtesy of Wetpaperbag poured into a tulip. Pours dark brown out of the bottle and sits almost completely black in the glass though there is a bit of light showing through the edges. There is a small creamy mocha head that recedes to a collar fairly quickly. The aroma is straight bourbon barrel with a little bit of vanilla coming through. The underlying stout is pretty tough to make out and there are some dark roasted malts in the nose but not much else. I imagine this is what the inside of a bourbon barrel would smell like. The taste is slightly better with the sweetness of the vanilla coming out more and the bourbon backing down a little. The dark chocolate and roasted malts are more evident as well. The finish is interesting as there seems to be a slightly smoky character to it. The mouthfeel is medium bodied and very slick, almost thin, with a very soft carbonation. This is a decent beer, but the bourbon barrel is too dominant for my tastes. Or maybe the underlying beer isn’t big enough to shine through. Either way, if you like big bourbon and wood character in your stouts, this one’s for you.

Bottle 65cl. @ LCRBM09 - Low Countries RateBeer Meeting V, Kulminator, Antwerpen, Belgium.
Clear medium to dark brown color with a average, frothy, good lacing, mostly diminishing, off-white head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, roasted, caramel, chocolate, alcohol. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and heavy bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20090905]