Anderson Valley Brewing Meets Wild Turkey
I just finished a surprise in a bottle. I expected this Bourbon Barrel Stout to be good. After all, it’s from Anderson Valley Brewing. But I was hoping it wasn’t another over the top whiskey flavored beer that no longer tasted like beer. This was very well balanced and delicious.I received this bottle as a gift for presenting an Oktoberfest history and organizing a blind tasting. It was a simple blind tasting. All they had to do was identify which beer of six was an Oktoberfest.
This Bourbon Barrel Stout poured a rich, deep brown nearly black with garnet highlights. The head was a big and rocky chapeau resting above this cark magic elixir.
The nose was complex and warming. Sweet malt notes were followed immediately by vanilla and oak.
The flavor surprised me with another complex experience. Sweet malt led the way and then a deep, rich, chocolate malt took over. Very nice and creamy texture with a noticeable, but faint sweet bourbon note left on an on-again off-again, dry chocolatey finish. Ahhhh
Prost!