Great Lakes Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout

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

2006 Bottle , 316/900 from Secret Santa 2006, drinking it with family on Christmas day 2007. Sampled alongside the non-barrel aged counterpart. Poured opaque black, with a moderate sized tan head. Nice vanilla, bourbon and oak aroma, with roasted malt and chocolate in the background. Really smooth and mellow. Roasted chocolate malt and coffee are really nicely complimented with oak, smoke, and bourbon. Long burnt chocolate finish, with some warming alcohol. Barrel aging makes a great beer even greater.

Pours out black as night with a mohogany hue. Big cocoa head dies slow and leaves sheets of lacing. The nose is big on chocolate, bakers chocolate, a little toffee like note and a hint of bourbon. Taste starts off with big chocolate followed by a long lingering bourbon finish but not boozy. Full in the mouth and a true sipper. A tasty brew.

Bottle, brought for me by kmweaver and I didn’t even ask for it (Ken’s a real sweetheart that way). No batch number on this. Pours a clear dark brown with ruby edges and a white ring around the glass. Wood, chocolatey caramel and earthy hops in the nose. Flavor notes of roastiness, plenty of chocolate, subtle wood/oak, pleasant charcoal character, a bit of dark fruit and earthy hops. Full-bodied with a smooth texture and moderate carbonation. Not exactly amazing, but good overall.

2006 bottle #282 - Although I had this on draft last year, I am rating this based on the bottled version. Pours totally opaque black color with small tan head. Aroma is full of burbon, fair amount of dark chocolate, bit of roasted barley, vanilla, toasted oak, bit of sour cherries, and caramel. Flavor is malty, roasty, fair amount of burbon, oak, vanilla, milk chocolate, lactose, with a mildly sweet finish. The burbon has definitely mellowed over the last year. A nice brew overall, a bit too much burbon, even after a year, but still very nice.

Black colour with a small brown head. Roasted, light coffee bitter aroma with a balanced sweetness from chocolate/ vanilla and fruit. Malty, light roasted flavor with chocolate and fruity sweet notes. Light dry and sweet finish.

Pours a black color with a tan head. Aroma is of bourbon, oak, roasted malts, coffee, chocolate, and a little alcohol. Flavor was very strong of the bourbon, oak, and cherry with roasted malts, coffee, and chocolate blending together very well. I’m glad I was given the opportunity to try this beer and would love to get my hands on another bottle.

Bottle # 142/900; Vintage 2006; Sampled December 2007
Minimally carbonated, a slightly vigorous pour produces only a scant, quarter-finger thick, light brown colored head that quickly dissipates to a thin ring. The beer is an opaque, deep, black, brownish tinged color. The aroma is fairly oak focused as this is the first thing that I notice; spicy oak, a bit of buttery oak and a touch of vanillin are noticeable in that order as far as magnitude as well. It is actually pretty hard to notice any of the other notes underneath the oak; perhaps a touch of burnt cherry aromatics and some toasted-burnt grain. After the beer has warmed a bit and I hae revisited the nose, I can now pick out flavors of molasses, but the aroma is still way more oak dominated that I would wish.

Starts out a bit thin, but picks up some heft pretty quickly and in fact coats the mouth enough to be noticed as this lingers on through to the finish. Still this is not really heavy for an Imperial Stout, but is by no means light either. The light carbonation probably adds a bit to the perceived thinness. The finish has an interesting, toasted / roasted flavor which brings out a distinct nuttiness akin to a super Nut-Brown Ale. The flavor is not nearly as oak driven as the nose is, in fact the flavors the oak adds contribute a nice supporting character to the brew. Flavors of burnt cherries, blackened raisin, strong black coffee or slightly watered-down espresso, chocolate extract and blackened whole grain toast round out the malt contributed notes. The oak adds / contributes to flavors of rum, vanillin, burnt toffee, a touch of butterscotch and some bourbon-like flavors (really a mix of the alcohol and the previous three mentioned flavors). As the beer warms a bit the alcohol and spicy oak notes add something similar to the flavors found in cola; something sort of akin to clove, cardamom and molasses.

Somehow this beer is strangely thin; I would like it to be a bit more full, textured and rich. This does have enough complexity though to keep it interesting. This really needs to be served on the warm side of cool (no where near the 45°F mentioned on the bottle); somewhere north of 60°F / 16°C should do it; at this temperature it picks up a bit more fullness and perhaps a touch more round, malt flavors to help balance things out. Compared to the regular version though, this beer is really missing a lot of malt character & complexity; seems some how heavily filtered (which can actually mechanically happen inside a barrel) and stripped down. Not bad, just not the beer it was originally.

Aroma is oaky, charred burbon, and vanilla oak. Legs are very short, but keeps a white head with an opaque brown color. Tastes is sweet bourbon and fruity , lots of caramel and some hops too. Palate is smooth with oak and hop harshness coming through at the very end. Very nice, but a touch of diacytl.