Great Lakes Barrel-Aged Blackout Stout

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

Had at columbus minitasting courtesy of sliffy. Aroma of chocolate, bourbon, oak. Good balance between sweetness, alcohol, roastiness, and bourbon. Very nice feeling burn on the top of the mouth.

Thanks to moejuck for this brew It poured jet black with a medium brown colored head. It was smooth and creamy on the tongue with some dark chocolate notes, but the body was a bit thinner than I’d expected.

22 oz bottle, 2005 vintage #180/400, via kujo9. Rated next to the regular Blackout Stout. Pours a very dark black colored body under a very fizzy dark brown head that disappeared instantly and formed a thin ring. Slightly darker than the regular Blackout. Aroma is roasty with a big bourbon backing. Nice big vanilla and oak notes hit you first, then espresso, tar, dark chocolate, and light alcohol. Flavor has more of an emphasis on the bourbon than the base beer, yet although it overpowers the base beer, it’s not so intense that it makes you forget you’re drinking a beer. A great bourbon/vanilla/oak interaction yields alot of complexity. Minimal alcohol apparency. Seems a little sweeter than the regular Blackout on the finish. Mouthfeel is full bodied with an oily texture. A little stickier on the finish than the Blackout, but with identical soft fizzy carbonation. It really coats the cheeks, providing a very long lingering bourbon laced finish. I gotta give the edge to the BA version over the regular, although I liked that as well. Quite a bit more complex and the bourbon, while center stage, isn’t overpowering lending to a great drinkability.

2006 bottle. I was not very impressed with this brew. It was quite thin, not overly aromatic, and left a lot to be desired. The regular blackout stout is quite thin as well, and isn’t much of an Imperial if you ask me. I liked the brew, but I wasn’t in love with it. Aroma has a little vanilla and a little dark fruit and roastiness, but nothing phenomenal. Taste is about the same, and is a bit bland for an impy. Finish is a little hot and unbalanced. I was really expecting a bit more based on the average rating of this brew.

2005: Pour is dark black with a thin tan head....weak and expected aromas...wood, chocolate and coffee and all seemed artificial...taste was much the same...weak flavors...thin bodied...a better example than the stupid Full Sail BA impy, but for the love of god can we not just pencil whip 4+ ratings on beers that got stuck in a barrel?

Whispy, thin brown covering of tiny bubbles dies off quickly leaving a thin stringy lace behind. A very black brew. Nose is gentle, roast, whisky and vanilla. Body is med/full oily and coating, could use a bit more carbonation though. Plenty of well balanced whisky, vanilla and roast flavors with background notes of berries, oak and charcoal. Finish is fairly dry, nicely whiskyish and roasty. A bit more carbonation would of improved its score a bit, both in appearence and palate. Props to OhioDad for hooking me up with this brew a short while back, thanks Scott! I,d also like to thank my Secret Santa for delivering another bottle for me to age!

Thanks to Drewbeerme!! Black tar with no head, Thick, heavy and full bodied molases. The aroma and taste are mainly oaked whiskey predominating over silky smooth chocolate malts, tad bit of vanilla and coffee. The alcohol is not masked to well in this.. although it does taste more like bourbon than just alcohol. Definatly a sipping beer, elegant and well made but lacking complexity.

This beer is so black, that it blacks out the light source behind it, and it is topped by a dark brown head. The aroma is roasted with notes of wood, bourbon, alcohol, and caramel. The flavor is sweet with notes of chocolate, wood and bourbon, as well as lighter notes of vanilla. The alcohol burns in the end. This is one heck of a beer. Thanks to Jsquire for bringing this to sample at the RBSG 2006.