Odell Bourbon Barrel Stout

Brewed by Odell Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Fort Collins, Colorado USA

Pours black/dark brown with a light tan head. Aroma is very nutty overall with notes of wood, vanilla, caramel, bourbon, alcohol, and something a little too leafy or planty. Tastes like bourbon soaked caramel at first with a bit of dark chocolate, almonds, wood, light vanilla, leaves and something a bit "green." Cucumber? Eh, maybe. Finishes with dark chocolate, roast, wood and licorice, not too bitter and still nutty and delicious. Medium to heavy body, highish carbonation for the style, fluffy and creamy texture, not syrupy. A good beer with lots of finesse, but without that slightly vegetal or cucumber-y note, it could have been even better.

(bottle from Weber St. Liquor in Colorado Springs). Black color. Medium tan head. Moderate bourbon aroma with light oak. Moderate bourbon flavor with light sweet malt. Avg duration. Slight alcohol finish. Slick texture. Moderate carbonation. Fair lacing.

Pours a deep chocolate brown that sits almost black in the glass but is not completely opaque black by any means. There is a surprisingly big (for a BA stout) fluffy tan head that shows very good retention and a ton of lacing. The aroma is very much imperial stout with the bourbon only playing a complementary role. The dominant aromas are dark roasted malts and bakers chocolate. There is just as much wood in the nose as the sweet bourbon, though they’re both present. The taste has a bit more sweetness than the aroma with vanilla joining the chocolate with the roasted character not coming out nearly as much. The finish is slightly sweet with a bourbon burn but also has a definite dryness from the wood. The mouthfeel is a little lighter than I’d like in the style with soft carbonation. This slightly lighter mouthfeel makes it extremely drinkable however and this one goes down as easily as any bourbon stout I’ve tried.

( 750ml bottle ) Pours a dark brown body with a medium tan head. Aroma of cocoa, bourbon, vanilla, and wood. Flavor of toffee, bourbon, roasted malt, wood, vanilla, and caramel.

750 ml bottle. Pours a nice dark black with some red hues and has a decent tan head that slowly fades. Taste is of bourbon, roasted malt, caramel, alcohol, some vanilla, some hops and wood. A little sweet. Similar aroma. Rather smooth. Pretty easy to drink, almost too easy and rather enjoyable. Worth the price and worth picking up again.

Bottle 75cl. @ post Borefts BF 09 hotel tasting
Clear dark brown color with average, frothy, good lacing, mostly lasting, beige head. Aroma is light heavy malty, roasted, chocolate, wood, bourbon. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a average to long duration. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft. [20091031]

Vanilla, bourbon, and cocoa waft from the cork as the beer pours from the bottle. Dark mahogany pour with latte head...just a bit too much sunlight passing through this one to rate it above a three in appearance. Nice sticky lacing, however. Flavor shows tons of brown sugar, dark roasted coffee, chocolate, and honey. Too thin to be taken seriously as a top-tier stout but tasty non-the-less.

Bottle Thanks Sam. Pours out a dark brown almost black topped with a tan head. Aroma was of bourbon, oak, chcolate and light roast. Taste was much of the aroma lots of bourbon I think a little time would help this one out. It still have all of the vanilla, coffee, and chcolate so it was still very drinkable.