Oregon Trail Bourbon Barrel Porter

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

Bomber. Pours mahogany with small, bubbly beige head. The aroma is largely bourbon, with some sweet malty notes, ash, alcohol, and some hay-like hops. The flavor is, well, bourbon, and lots of it. Every once in a while I pick up some hop notes. But mostly it is malty, smoky, slightly sweet bourbon. This detracts quite a bit from its identification as a beer, but fortunately I like bourbon, so it doesn’t bother me that much. But if you don’t like bourbon, stay away.

Garnet color with a fleeting tan head. Nice nose is medium strong and mostly bourbon with roasted malts and vanilla. Smooth and medium bodied. Good taste is sweet bourbon with dark roasted malts, and mild flavors of wood char and vanilla. Not bourbon overkill like some BA brews. Seems i can’t get enough of that charred wood in these barrel aged brews.

Bottle courtesy of sbnw1111 . Drank @ Coles Buffalo NY with Blankboy, HogTownHarry, Rudolf, IPFreely & Biegaman. perhaps I chilled this one down a bit too much. It opened up & got betteras it warmed up. Aromas of vanilla, oak, bourbon & of all things windex. Pours a deep dark brown with medium to fuller body. Tastes of bourbon, vanilla & oak. Pretty good as it warmed up

Pours a dark brown with a light off white head. Get a good dose of that bourbon right away, some chocolate, alot of dark malts, and some roast. The flavor is of bourbon, graham crackers, chocolate, and roast. Pretty complex, with a decent balance to it. Not overly exciting, but solid nonetheless. The finish was fairly smooth, got a little alcochol in the aftertaste.

Thanks to Swoopjones for sharing! Deep mahogany, ruby/amber where the light does shine through. Nose is vanilla tootsie rolls, alcohol, bourbon. Flavor is vanilla tootsie roll, lots of alcohol, sweet malt, chocolate. Lots of toffee, bitterness & alcohol tingliness in the finish.

I had high expectations for this one, but found it a bit disappointing overall. The aroma is a bit too aggressive, sort of like Weyerbacher’s Heresy (a stout, I know, but similar issues). The flavor isn’t too bad, and not as imbalanced as I’d feared, but I agree with harlequinn (below) that the porter itself isn’t nearly robust and substantive enough. Too, there’s a bit of an acrid finish at times.

Tasted 10/9/08. 22oz bomber. Pittch brown hue with a khaki ring of head. Cocoa and woody, vanilla aromas. Smokey Bourbon aromas. Good amount of alcohol in the nostrils. Peat and vanilla. Interesting nose. Almost more Bourbon barrel than malty beer. Tight alcohol aroma. Fully bodied with a great vanilla flavor. Lotta oak supported by sweet malts. Slight coffee acidity, but the barrel aspect overshadows everything else! Solid base porter. Notes of cookies and fudge. Bourbon barrel makes this beer! Wonderful usage of the wood!

Bottle: Medium depth brown with a modest tan head. Aroma is up front with bourbon and backed by roasty malt and chocolate. Flavor is sweet with bourbon, chocolate, roast, and little hints of vanilla. Very smooth and well balanced. Just a bit thin on the palate.