Sacramento Barrel Aged Imperial Red

Formerly brewed at Sacramento Brewing Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Sacramento, California USA

Huge bourbon nose. Vanilla, wood, a hint of smoke. Pours murky brownish red. Flavors of bourbon, vanilla, barrel tartness, a hint of smoke, earth, light bitterness. No carbonation, lots of booze. Interesting.

On tap. Reddish dark brown with a small beige head. Aroma basically oonly of wood and borbon. Medium body, completely flat with discreet notes of roasted malt and nuts, but otherwise completely dominated by intense bourbon notes. No trace of the alcohol or the 100 IBUs. 130709

From tap at the brewpub. Pours hazy dark amber to brown with a small tan head. Aroma is bourbon and roasted malty. Solid bourbon flavoured, wooden and with a roasted malt flavour beneath. Bourbon and wooden finish. Too much bourbon for my liking.

Name: Smokey’s Imperial Red, BA
Date: July 06, 2009
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub
Appearance: cloudy dark red, creamy tan head
Aroma: sweet caramel and vanilla aroma with a nice dose of burbon and oak
Flavor: sweet caramel candy flavor, bourbon and vanilla sweetness, oak combines with the earthyness to add depth and balance, touch of heat from the bourbon
Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 6/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **4

Draft at the brewpub. A deep dark red beer with a thin light tan head. The aroma is powerful with notes of wood, berries, malt, and a bit of alcohol. The flavor is very woody combined with notes of berries, malt, caramel, and a bit of brettanomyces, leading to a dry woody finish, where the bourbon shows up.

6-8 ounce snifter on tap at the brewpub. Lots of bourbon-whiskey in the aroma. Pretty sweet and sugary with some resiny pine hop notes, too. Some light anise is also in there. Mildly transparent mahogany body with a foamy off-yellow head that lasts a long long time. Attractive stuff. Lightly astringent barrel flavor to start with mostly bourbon present. This is followed by some big, sticky malt flavors in the middle. Finishes with a very pleasant vanilla and butterscotch diacetyl flavors. Almost like butterscotch ice cream topping. Normally, this flavor doesn’t work, but in this case it works out great. Very well balanced with a very pleasant warming sensation.

Draft at the brewpub. Near opaque brown color with a decent little tan head on the snifter. Smells rather oaky sour. Medium body with mild carbonation. Very woody/oaky with some herb bitter, a touch of temporary sour, and a rather brown malty finish. Pretty astringent. Lots of flavor. Even develops a touch of vinosity. Astringent! Note: Brewer said this was 2007 unblended, in a first time barrel. It was a bourbon barrel, but the barrel is a first time use for beer. So the oak is very strong. There are more barrels.

Draft. Ruby/mahogony beer with a nice tan head. Big bourbon aroma with some malt. Bourbon flavor with vanilla, oak, and some caramel. Medium-plus bodied. Bourbon, malt, and vanilla lingers. Lots of bourbon and vanilla, but should mellow nicely (Old Pappy changed a bit over time - this probably will too).