Middle Ages Oak-Aged Dragonslayer

A: Jet black body with dark mocha colored lacing but no real head. To be expected from a cask beer. S: Bourbon leads its friends vanilla and roasted malt on the path from this beer to my nose. T: The taste is very strong dark chocolate. It almost tastes like cocoa powder was added. There is a bunch of roasted malt in there and it ends with a slight liquor flavor at the end. There are powerful woody undertones. M: Very full bodied but it finishes lighter than it starts. D: Very good drinkability but it leaves a slightly harsh roasted aftertaste.

Tap at Barcade 2005 version sampled in 2007. Pitch black beer with a thin espresso coloured head. Great aroma, soft vanilla oaky notes behind a sweet dark chocolate aroma. Heavy malts, dark dried fruits, plums and dates along with brown sugar and molasses. Flavour is also intensely chocolatey and fruity. Lots of oak and vanilla in the background, but the base notes are the most important of all. Not a lot of hop aroma of flavour, but there is enough bitterness to keep this from being cloying. Warming intensifies the oaky notes. A touch of tannic character and soft roasty bitterness that comes to the fore. Very tasty brew.

Tap at Barcade: Pours near black with a creamy brown one-finger head. The aroma is extremely chocolatey with a boozy background. Upfront flavor is sweet chocolate syrup. The body is a bit thin for an Imperial Stout. There’s woody notes in the middle with a light hint of dark burnt fruits and boozyness. Smooth, long, roasty finish filled with fresh brewed coffee. Somewhat thin and lacking dimension, but still enjoyable.

XBF05: Black with large tan head, whiskey and rich malts in the aroma, medium bodied, starts and ends lightly sweet.

Draft, EBF: Opaque black in appearance, this beer shows a rather irregular beige head that mostly last, but produces 0 lacing. The added oak value is evident, though I would suspect oak chips as the beer seems mostly dried out with sawdust nuances, but the good value is that there’s no oxidation trace at all. The roastiness is well exposed through and through, growing with each sip amidst a garden of truffles. Finishing a bit dull, with growing alcohol flavours that take over and confirms the lack of fruitiness. Average carbonation intensity. Light bodied for an imperial stout, soily, rooty goodbye kiss with a fair finishing dryness that limits the chocolatey sweetness. I expected this to be more straightforward than it was, but the oak aging was done pretty competently. Congratulations.