We’re sitting down to watch the second Hunger Games movie and having dinner. I’ve already had New Glarus Cherry Stout earlier today, so I thought I’d stick with the stouts, and go a bit bigger. I believe this is one of the beers my friend Travis gave me in a mixed 6-pack he brought back from his trip to Virginia Beach last year.

Location: Poured into a snifter glass at my home in Bloomington, IL.

Numbers: 8% ABV, ~280 Calories

Appearance & Aroma: It’s dark black in color, with almost no light visible when held up to the light. There’s no head, just a creamy tan ring around the edge of the glass. It has a dark roasty aroma with some charred barrel smells.

Taste & Feel: The body is full and it has a fairly smooth mouthfeel. The flavor up front is soft and roasty, with a light bourbon-caramel roastiness coming in the middle. The roasty flavors grow in the finish, with some charred barrel like flavors that stand out. The aftertaste is mostly the roasty charred barrel flavors with some caramel maltiness in background.

Food Pairing: With the caramel malts, roastiness, and charred flavors, I can’t think of a better pairing for this beer than BBQ. The roastiness and char from the barrel should mix nicely with the char on the meat, and the bourbon-caramel should mix with the sauce.

Overall Impression: I enjoy bourbon barrel aged stouts, and this one was pretty good. It was nice to be able to pick out some of the light bourbon-caramel flavors, but I would have loved it even more with more of these flavors. The barrel seemed to contribute a fair amount of charred roastiness, which dominated the flavors. Overall, it was a pretty good barrel aged stout, and I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on some more of this to see how it changes from year to year.

My Rating:

Reader Ratings[five-star-rating]