Shorts Bourbon Barrel Sustenance Black Beer

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

22oz bomber. Pours deep, deep mahogany with a bubbly two-finger tan head that lingers for a little while and leaves a trace of lacing. Smell is complex and interesting with bourbon definitely showing up and burning the nose a little. There is also tons of dark fruit with raisins and even grapes on top a very sweet malt base with brown sugar as well. Taste is just as interesting as the nose with an initial sweetness of sugar and caramel. Dark fruits show throughout on top of a roasted malt base before giving way to a tingling alcohol finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with good carbonation and leaves a sticky sweet aftertaste tinged with booze. This is one of the best schwarzbiers I’ve ever had and I think the bourbon barrel use is very well done. This is my first Shorts brew and I’m looking forward to more. Highly recommended!

Courtesy of northernbrews Bottle: The aroma contains bourbon, vanilla, minty notes, chocolate, and faint roastiness. It pours a dark brown with some faint orange highlights with a small beige head. The flavor starts with chocolate and mild bourbon. The finish has light notes of roastiness and woodiness. It’s medium bodied with soft carbonation.

On draft at Short’s brewery. Pours a dark black with a beige head. Rich nose of chocolate and toasted/burnt malts with some dark fruits coming out. Body is light to medium but smooth. Charred chocolate malts and nuts in the flavor. Lightly bitter and charred finish. Tasty schwarzbier.

Poured an opaque black color with a nice tan head. Smell was slightly vinous with a little chocolate as well. Taste was some vanilla, with a vinous quality as well, almost tasted wine barrel aged as opposed to the bourbon barrel, sweet malt, vanilla, and a distant balancing bitterness. This wasn’t quite what I expected, but I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Drew for this: Pours like cola, with bourbon and vanilla in the nose. I got some underlying citrus here too. Flavor is lightly coffee, vanilla, dry, woody, and finishes with bourbon on the palate but in a way that it was pleasant and not overpowering. This was a treat.

22oz bottle: Midnight black pour with a beautiful head that is creamy and leaves lots of lace. Dry cocoa dusted nose of bittersweet chocolate and nuts. The body is creamy with a nice complexity. Lots of vanilla and fudge, balanced with a punch of bourbon and oak. Drinks easy and is actually pretty refreshing.

Thanks, once again, to Jeff for this gem. Pours a cola-like dark brown with a 1/2 inch head that quickly recedes to the very outer edges. Smells of bourbon, berries and molasses. Actually, a very tasty smelling beer. Similar flavors to the smell with some odd similarities to cola. Not that this is necessarily bad, but it is interesting that it ended up this way. Definitely a fair amount of bourbon here, but the flavors work, so I don’t mind. Coffee and some more dark fruits also present themselves. Medium to low carbonation helps this beer from being too thin. Mind you, this is only 6.5%, so don’t expect a huge body. Surprisingly, the bourbon doesn’t really thin out this beer at all - I would guess this beer, without the bourbon aging, would have no more body than this, and quite possibly less. All of this helps to make this a very drinkable bourbon barrel aged beer. Slight alcohol hit at the end - in a nice, warming way. I’ve not had something quite like this before, but it works well. An interesting mix of flavors with strong bourbon characteristics that make for a truly hearty schwarzbier. I can see having this with big Thanksgiving spread.

orange/brown body with a small light brown head.the aroma is a nice mix of bourbon,vanilla,wood,and some roasted malts.flavor is much of the same with some dark fruit thrown in.well balanced and still full of that b"ba" flavor.