Great Lakes Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Cleveland, Ohio USA

Bottled at Petalax Beer Festival. Transparently black with brief beige head. Strong oaky vanilla aroma with licorice behind. Sweet and near full bodied. Restrained and reasonably balanced. There’s licorice, vanilla and oak with syrup underneath. Flavourful, extrovert and really good, but Great Lakes is one of those brewers that can do more subtle beer really, really good I still prefer some of their lesser heralded beers.

Bottled. Pitch black colour, mediumsized beigeish brown creamy and lasting head. Aroma is smoothly roasted malts, some wooden notes, licorice as well as mild coffee, chocolate and licorice. Flavour is roasted malts, licorice, vanilla and wood along with some caramel, chocolate and coffee. Aftertaste is vanilla, wood, coffee and some mild notes of roasted malts. Hides the alcohol quite well, and is wellbalanced.

(Bottled, 0.66l) Black with a small, beige and lacy head. Strong, roasty and coffee-licoricey aroma. Roasty-malty, licoricey, vanilla-oaky flavor with rhum, calvados, truffles, moderate bitterness. Quite full-bodied, slightly syrupy palate with low carbonation. A pleasant, beautiful and balanced brew with not too much oak effects.

[1223-20080328] 1pt6floz bottle. Aroma of mild wet dog food and chocolate-covered burnt wood pellets. Hazy, dark dark brown red body with a quick creamy light tan head. Dry boozy roast malt flavour with a nice hint of chocolate in the aftertaste. Full body is dry. Very nice to try.
(c/o HogTownHarry, w/ him, blankboy, GregClow, jerc, tupalev)

Dark ruby brown color with a small, light tan head. Needs to be much darker. Timid nose, with only a light hint of the barrel element Thin mouth feel, low complexity and fairly depthless character overall. Some hints of caramel and corn whiskey, but there is hardly much of a beer underneath. This is a rerate of the newer bottling, but its a lot like the first: bland, poorly concentrated, lacking texture and just dull overall.

Bottle thanks to miketd. Pours black with a thin, creamy, light brown head. Nice vanilla/bourbon smells with some dark malts as well. Tastes sweet, dark malty up front with a mellow, lingering sweet bourbon and vanilla flavor. A bit of wood on the finish, slightly sour. Very flavorful BA brew. Medium/full body, smooth and mellow carbonation.

At Noogfest Four-O. Pours very dark mahogany with tan head. The aroma is slightly sour berry, chocolate, caramel, and distant oak. The flavor is strong vanilla with chocolate and coffee notes that combine like mocha. It finishes with an ashy note. Not too shabby. I’d like me a full bottle of this one...

Tasted at Noogfest 4.0 (2008). This Imperial Stout pours a deep black color from a 22oz bottle. Small sized tan foamy head. The aroma is chocolate, coffee, bourbon and sweet. A medium to full bodied stout. The malts are chocolate, roasty malts, coffee. Lots of vanilla and bourbon flavors. Nice balance. Very smooth taste. Nice beer. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly bitter.