Great Lakes Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout

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

Rating 800
22 ounce bottle. 370 of 900. 2006 vintage. Thanks to GrbDg
Black. No real head that I saw. At least it surely didn’t last too long. Typical BA imperial stout aromas. Bourbon, oak, vanilla, some roast. Typical BA flavors. Bourbon, vanilla, oak, chocolate, some roast. Medium body. Silky. Light carbonation. There really isn’t much here to set it apart for the rest of this sort. It really reminds me a lot of Schlafly BA Imperial Stout.

RBSG 2007 Grand Tasting. Dark ruby black body with a thin off-white head. Light bourbon aroma on a chocolate and caramel aroma. Sweet chocolate, molassas, bourbon and a bitter background.

Pour was jet black small head which didn’t stick around long. aroma was strong burbon oak vanilla. Flavor was the same with some roastedness to it. Was good finished a nice bitter. thanks eagle.

Approximately 1.5 oz. sample at the Grand Tasting of the RateBeer Summer Gathering 2007 in the Twin Cities, MN on July 23, 2007. This was the fifth of 26 beers that I sampled and rated during the tasting. Chocolate and coffee scents. Fairly hoppy smell. Aroma not as strong as I expected. Pours a dark brown with an amber/tan hue and a small amount of beige head. Remarkably sweet flavor. Sweet tobacco, sugar, and sweet fruit tastes. A hint of roasted coffee in the finish. Medium body. Sharp in the palate. I was expecting more a of a roasted bitter taste based on the name for some reason, but I was really digging the sweet beers during RBSG ’07 weekend, so it’s probably for the best that it instead tilted toward the sweet side.

RBSG 2007. Black color with no head. Big oaky aroma. Slightly bitter bourbony taste with a lot of roasted malt clinging to the finish. Solid.

Bottle courtesy dsnowden. Your generosity knows no bounds. Pours oily black with a small light brown head. Big chocolatey bourbon right in your face from the beginning. I love it! i get some graham crackers, a little roast, and some peanut butter as well. The taste was much the same, big chocolate and bourbon with some roasty oily mouthfeel characters to it as well. Peanut butter M & M’s keep coming to mind. The bourbon really gets at you towards the finsh as it warms. Awesome full thick mouthfeel. Kick ass brew! Thanks Dan!!

Bottle 146 or 164, crap I can’t recall. Pours jet black, beyond dark and opaque. What little head formed, rapidly vanished. The aroma is complex and unending, grahm crackers, vanilla, charred oak, bourbon, chocolate, espresso. Damn, this is nice. The flavor is a contiuation of the aroma, with a nice oaky finish. Very complex and long. Alcohol is warming, but well balanced. One of the best I have ever had.

Bottle 167 of 900 (2006), courtesy of the most kind and generous Slob, to whom I am greatly beer-indebted!!! Pour was usual, dark deep black, except the head was off-white (not chocolatey tan), short lived, but leaving a thin covering. The aroma was bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, oak. Flavor was bourbon, cocoa, vanilla, oak, and light roastiness/ash. Aftertaste leaves some dark fruits in there underneath the bourbon, unfortunately also too much alcohol too. The bourbon was firm a touch on the strong side, yet it wasn’t way over the top like others (in other words, I still noted many other flavors). Mouthfeel was only moderate for the style, fairly thin for an impy stout, only moderately carbonated for an aged impy stout. A fun brew, and much thanks to Bert for this one!