Oregon Trail Bourbon Barrel Porter

Brewed by Oregon Trail Brewery
Style: Imperial/Strong Porter
Corvallis, Oregon USA

Picked up single bottle from John’s Market Place in Portland, OR. Pours a semi-cloudy dark brown brew with a fast dissolving off-whtie head that disappears clean. Aroma of aged dark oak, bourbon with a touch of caramel malt, vanilla and some chocolate. Taste is smooth, thick and creamy, medlum bodied with some light carbonation. Flavors is mostly bourbon dark fruits and some chocolate malt. Finish is semi-sweet, with a caramel vanilla aftertaste. Nice alcohol warmth an added feature.

Bomber, Batch #2 (9.1%). Poured cola brown with an easily-resuscitated cap of oaky head. The aroma found sweet bourbon and sour oak upfront, taking some breathing time before the porter came out.. chocolate and molasses gave a wonderful impression when they showed.. whatever bourbon they used gave a wonderful impression! The flavor opened with tangy bourbon, oak, and vanilla preceding the base porter.. sweeter candy bar-like chocolates (3 Musketeers?) and coconut on the middle.. finished with more bourbon, fudge, coconut, and vanilla. Heavier-bodied and syrupy on the palate with carbonation just lightly accenting the prickly oak.. warm in the aftertaste, remniscent of finishing a glass of bourbon. Excellent stuff!

Bottle (22oz - wax sealed). Shared with blankboy, biegaman, IPFreely and rudolf, swoopjones brung the bottle. Deep, nearly opaque ruby-black, with a small head (4-). My first reaction to the aroma was negative - very sharp, cheap strong bourbon, acidic roast, some acrid solvent/bleach character too - but it settled down some to booze, sweet bourbon, standard roast (coffee bean, some chocolate). The taste - sorry, it’s just too sweet, too bourbony - like a scorched Play-Doh liqueur with a hint of maple. Light-bodied, this was pretty slick and boozy on the palate with a long burnt alocholic finish. why do I keep drinking these frickin’ bourbon-aged beers? More to the point, why does everyone keep MAKING them????

This porter poured a medium brown color from a 22oz bottle. Medium sized white foamy head. Aroma is malty, caramel and sweet with lots of bourbon. A medium bodied porter. Malts are chocolate and coffee, touch of vanilla and caramel. Nice balance between the malts and the bourbon barrel, but perhaps a bit to much bourbon at the finish. Very smooth and clean. Makes a great sipping beer. Hides the alcohol very well. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and smooth. Aftertaste is slightly sweet

Many thanks to Skyview for hauling this one back. Dark brown color with no head. Kind of a moderate bourbon aroma: not like a glass of bourbon, but not so weak you can’t tell it’s even there. The bourbon picks up a lot in the flavor. Hop and malt bitterness on the finish. Not bad at all, but it doesn’t seem to know if it wants to be a bourbon aged beer or a glass of bourbon.

BCTC pre-fest. Pours a rich deep ruby mahogany with a thin lasting head. Aroma is light diacetyl, bourbon, oaky, light vanilla with sweet caramel and chocolate malts. Light fruits int he flavor with the obvious chocolate and bourbon, and nice hints of toasted and caramel malts- a bit more butterscotch and earthy woody finish. Light astirngency but a full mouthfeel. Nice.

Bottle (22oz) shared with HogTownHarry, biegaman, IPFreely, rudolf & swoopjones -- courtesy of swoopjones. Pours a very dark deep ruby, almost black, with no head. Aroma seemed a little odd to me, it’s bourbony along with lightly roasted malt, vanilla and light hops and ...? -- there was something odd I couldn’t place. Flavour of lightly roasted malt, chocolate, bourbon, light hops and vanilla. Alcohol’s reasonably well hidden. Medium bodied. Not great, just pretty good.

Bomber with an ass load of wax on it. The bottle said 9.5% but if its 11%, ok. Shared with my gf cyn, this came via trade, with who I have no clue. Pours black with a 1 finger tan head. Bourbon Vanilla nose. Taste is roasty with big notes of bourbon. Overall pretty good.