Shorts Bourbon Barrel Sustenance Black Beer

Brewed by Shorts Brewing Co.
Style: Schwarzbier
Bellaire, Michigan USA

Pours dark brown, with a light brown head. Aroma is bourbon, malt, and molasses. Flavor is bourbon, fruit, malt, and chocolate. Medium body. Ends a little sour and tart. Very good brew.

All hails to mighty tpd975 for making my 600th review a good one. Pours black with tan head. Aroma has plenty of the bourbon nose, rich but remains very subtle and light. Taste, lots of roastiness, chocolate malts and light hints of bourbon. The overall mouthfeel is very enjoyable and leaves an aftertaste almost mocha. I really could not pick up any bitterness or tartness. This is definitely a new and interesting twist to Schwarzbier. Thumbs up.

Bomber. Cherries, vanilla, oak all on the nose. Pours very dark brown black at the center. Sour cherries, oak, vanilla, bourbon, very tart and funky flavors. It reminds me of something from Jolly Pumpkin. Excellent beer!

Pours black from the bomber with a creamy tan head. Brimming with vanilla, bourbon, roasted coffee, and red grapes. The best beer I’ve had from Shorts thus far. Awesome. Re-rated from a recent bottling and noticed a lot of bread pudding, figs, and lactose in the taste. You get all of the bourbon flavor in this beer without the alcohol burn. Great stuff.

20080510 From bottle at Pauls 1st Hoboken gathering. Interesting idea, I think this is the only barrel aged schwarzbier I have tried. It works but maybe only because it is a pretty strong beer to begin with. Nice notes of dried fruits, cocoa, and where you might expect that usual schwarzbier ashy astringency this beer instead just becomes thin and lazy. Very molassesy.

Bomber. Pours a dark cola brown color with a small, foamy, cream colored head. A sudsy, sheeting wash of froth rejoins the body almost entirely. The aroma is completely out of left field....I can not believe how much it reminds me of a Jolly Pumpkin beer. A dark cocoa malt base shows formidable notes of soured, funky oak, vanilla, moderate spices, and dry brett. Sour mash Kentucky bourbon shows subtly on the nose. The flavor profile is even more sour and bretty than the aroma indicates. The funky, old, vanilla laden oak gives just the right amount of bourbon heat, while lactose serves as a bridge to the bittersweet, dark cocoa maltiness. Substantial in both body and carbonation, the brett imparts its signature dry, parching mouthfeel, sourness intensifying on the finish. This is a great beer. If I had to sum it up into a single phrase, it would be - Bourbon Barrel Aged Jolly Pumpkin Madrugada Obscura. It really is almost a dead ringer.

Special thanks to Beerlando for bringing this great brew. Brown with a tan head. Funky vanilla, red grape and oak flavors with a slight mustiness and bitterness. The bourbon barrel aging really adds to this. A little Jolly Pumpkin-esque. Awesome beer.

22 oz bottle. Clear, but deep purple brown with a splotchy beige and tan head. Odd nose of grapes and coffee with hints of bourbon. Medium body with a sour tang. Taste is equally as strange with plum, mocha and red wine. Bourbon and coffee to finish. Always a radical brew from Shorts.