Odell Buffalo Bourbon Stout

Draught. Head is mostly diminishing. Body is dark brown. Aroma is lightly to moderately malty (caramel, chocolate, cereal), with notes of vanilla, wood, whisky, hint of earth. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium body, watery texture, soft carbonation. This was a sample that had spent about 2 months in the barrel...they had also made some available after 1 month of aging, so are clearly experimenting for an upcoming bourbon barrel project. Pleasant, but kinda simple.

Draft: Eclipsed mahogany. Dense, big-bubbled light-beige head. Aroma is chockfull of roasted barley and coffee. Slightly phenolic with burnt cookies, caramel, and raisins. Flimsy, obviously-forced carbonation collapses on the palate upon contact. Initial graininess is trailed by a salty undertow of licorice and oaky bourbon which enlivens the crunchy char. Molasses and smoky roast tease the palate, but lack intensity and fail to contribute and significant depth. Oak is fairly pronounced, but the bourbon fails to make an impression. Tight cinnamon highlights the char and offsets some of the flabbiness. Feathery roasted barley tempers the delicate zing of metallic char. Just enough residual sweetness exudes to curtail the pervasive graininess. Earthy hop bitterness creeps in at the finish alongside a vaporous bourbon sweep which displaces the lurking tackiness. There’s nothing particularly striking or Imperialish about this. Rather unpolished, grainy, poorly attenuated, dreadfully artificial carbonic texture, not enough bourbon emphasis, etc. More time in the barrel coupled with some natural carbonation might just make this something worth seeking out.

cask at the brewery. pours black with a strong barrel/booze nose. barrel is apparent in the flavor with some light vanilla that complements the base beer well. the alcohol warms in this but does not bite. really a nice beer, chocolate w/ a light raisin note. surprisingly smoother and more gentle on my palate than the base beer was. one of the good barrel beers that complements with bourbon flavor instead of dominating.