Stone Bourbon Barrel Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Escondido, California USA

Growler shared by thickfreakness (thickerfreakness). Thanks Charles!
Pours Dark black with a short lived tan head. Smell is bourbon, chocolate and a slight doughy-ness along with a bit of vanilla. Tastes is rich and chocolatey, with some bitterness. Light vanilla flavor and balanced light bourbon flavor too. Medium to full bodied with moderate to light carbonation. Solid mouthfeel. I liked this way better than the non-BA version.

1L bottle from wetherel. Black with no head. Aroma of roasted malt, dark fruit, chocolate and bourbon. The taste was the same with nice vanilla/wood notes. Very smooth on the palate. Oily body. The finish was slightly boozy and bourbony. Pretty good stuff.

I had this on tap at Stone last Sunday. It was astoundingly different that the first time. Fresh and straight from the tap. wel, I love the regular version and this just added better to great. Shit, I am so glad that I was able to try this again. Loads of smooth silky chocolate, a dash of bitterness from either the chocolate or espresso what ever the heck it was didn’t matter. The barrel aging on this was so perfect. I am really glad that Stone has grown so big but can still retain the magic for this brews. After meeting Greg I know that things will not change.

2006 version. Pours an oily, pitch black color; some viscosity and oiliness in the pour; light tan head that quickly dissipates. Dense, chewy aroma: roasted marshmallows, chocolate sauce (dark, milk, but not bitter); sweet toasty bourbon and vanilla, mostly showing through in the marshmallow note; generous, oily stuff. Full, viscous mouthfeel: lightly carbonated, velvety presence in the mouth; intense, chewy toasty bourbon, dark chocolate, and roasted marshmallows, again; a touch of buttery oak and woodiness coming through; soft, oozing bourbon and chocolate character throughout; nothing close to harsh here; I could drink a lot of this; my response to argo0 and ryan’s ratings: "This is why we can’t have nice things." Lengthy finish: dark chocolate, nuttiness, and warming, sweet bourbon.

(thanks kmweaver) Small brown head atop black body with dark brown edge. Aroma is moderately sweet, vanilla/Bourbon, chocolate, marshmallow, some bubblegum, coffee/roast, light burnt, wood. Taste is moderately sweet, chocolate, roast/burnt, Bourbon/vanilla. Light alcohol burn. Low carbonation, medium body, possibly a trifle thin for the beer.

Courtesy of kmweaver. Black body with a medium-sized tan head, fading. The nose is chocolate, bourbon, molasses, burnt marshmallow and a large amount of alcohol. The flavor is moderately sweet, lightly bitter with lots of chocolate, some coffee, bourbon, roast, toffee and a touch of dark fruit. Full body is soft and sticky with moderate carbonation and a hot finish.

Hand bottle out of a growler. Thanks to John and Eben. Bourbon bomb for sure. Hot and heavy aroma. Chocolate, roasted marshmallow, grain alcohol soaked tootsie rolls. Charred wet wood, toasted vanilla bean and alcohol. Pours an oily near pitch black. Lifeless. A gentile swirl yields oily yellow legs around the inside edges of the glass. Hot and acidic on the tongue. Plenty of bourbon and alcohol notes. Dark chocolate, bitter roasted malt. Slightly metallic. Charred wood. Medium to full bodied with a lengthy dark fruits soaked in Everclear finish. Overally just way too much alcohol hotness. Tone it down a bit and this would score much higher with me. Thanks John!

Poured fairly dark black with only small hints of a tan head. The aroma is a bit lacking, but fairly nice. Bourbon tones mix well with the sweet malts and some roast or maybe a bit of wood. The palate is a bit thicker than I remember the regular RIS, but still feels a bit thin. The flavour is seriously lacking, the barrel aging hasn’t helped it much. There is some wood aged-ness to this and small hints of bourbon. Overall it’s just not really very good. RBSG 2008 Update. Wow, this is a different animal. Very smooth, well blended, chocolate, vanilla, some alcohol and bourbon. I do not know what happened to the growler I drank from originally but it must have been something bad. It’s quite good straight from the source.