Oregon Trail Bourbon Barrel Porter

22. Thanks, Pitonka! You really hooked me up on this one (I hadn’t even known about it until he proposed it as part of a locals trade).
Pours opaque ebony with a positively towering sudsy tan head. Gigantic nose, too: definite bourbon and oak, vanilla’s there, cherry, tobacco, a little bit of salty sea air.
Moderate attack, as you might expect from the yeast: clean medium-sized body with medium carb. Huge sweet flavors, though. The mid-palate’s a concourse d’elegance: all the notes from the nose return for another go-round, joined by more pronounced chocolates and, unfortunately, a sour metallic intrusion at the end.
The finish is light, lingering, pleasant, woody/oaky, and definitely a credit to the beer. This would’ve scored even higher--probably by quite a bit--without that sour metallic note at the end of the mid-palate.

Red Wax (batch #2 I believe) bottle from Steve and served in my Stone IRS snifter: Pours a deep brown with ruddy highlights, small fading ring of foam and minimal lace. The nose detects berry esters, tobacco, leather, old oak, hint of rye mash whisky, and some butternut bread. The flavor profile starts with a boozy forefront before the palate adjusts and allows the softer sweeter malts to come out to play. I found a smoky rye bread and chocolate malt action in the midesection before leading off to a woody and nutty finish. Undertones of acidic fruits and coffee found in and about at times. The mouth feel is thin but I have noticed that more often than not in barrel aged beers lately, aggressive bite and moderate alcohol warming. Overall I liked the fruity character which worked with a barrel flavors but it could have stood a touch more chewy malts, worth trying again.

22oz bottle dipped in red wax. Poured a dark brown color with a large sized tan head. Aromas of oaky woodiness, vanilla, bourbon (not over powering), roast, and a little smokey. Tastes of vanilla, bourbon, oak, cocoa, and caramel. Bourbon is stronger in the aroma but again, not over powering. On the sweeter side. I liked the way the barrel aging was done on this one.

Bottle: This is batch 3, I have had all 3 batches. This one is the strongest of the 3 at 11% and sightly sweeter. The nose is a lot of bourbon spiciness with maltyness barely coming through. Pours black with red highlights if you hold it up to a light. 1 finger frothy tan head. Flavor is a ton of bourbon and spiciness. Almost seems extra spicy. Rich maltyness comes through underneath but is secondary. No noticeable hop presence. The body is medium but goes down pretty light. After a few drinks i can feel a big alcohol warmth in the back of my throat. This beer is really nice if you love Bourbon, spice and alcohol.

Bottle shared by puddintane. Black pour with a light tan nhead. Aroma of taosted coconut, vanilla, light roasted malt. Flavor of oak, coconut, chocolate...decent amount of bourbon elements. Medium body with a sweet fruity finish.

Bottle: Pitch black, quite dark for a porter, moderate foamy beige head, lacing that is sticky, coats the glass well.   Wonderful nose of Oak, Bourbon, Vanilla, and more Bourbon. &nbps This seems like the Full Sail version yet not as brash.   Sweet oakish start, soft vanilla aspects, with a Bourbonesque alcoholic flair on the backside.   Not strong, very well balanced, but the underlying Porter is not very noticeable.   Good beer, great start, backside starts to thin out a bit but still remains fairly bourbony.   More woody than other examples.   Porter aspect is indeed secondary, as it is likely too light to compare to the barrel aging.   Not likely to age well, so I suggest enjoying it while you have it.   The 9.1% ABV is well hidden.   Very tasty example of a Bourbon Porter.   Big props to batkins for saving me one of these!

22oz bottle, courtesy of argo0. Thanks, Aaron! Pours a dark, cherry-brown color; light tan head with fine-bubbled lacing. Pleasant, sour-mash whiskey and dried cherry character in the aroma. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: plenty of warm vanilla and whiskey character upfront; light, roasted malt and light porter backdrop; one-dimensional sour-mash whiskey with a light porter framework. Medium, whiskey and light chocolate finish.

(22oz bottle) Medium beige head that dissipates rapidly atop clear red-black body. Aroma is medium sweet, bourbon/vanilla. Taste is medium sweet, roast/coffee, some bourbon. Medium body. I find the last sentence of the commercial description a little scary, but maybe I’m reading something that isn’t there. I do like the use of the word Bourbonesque -- maybe that’s one that belongs in the lexicon for describing all these bourbon barrel beers, saving us all lots of time that otherwise would be spent typing in several words to describe a single generic quality.