Bourbon Barrel Aged Speedway. Special Markings: Gold foil neck and white numbering above rear label.
Beer Ratings and Reviews:
[1] Review by Sap from Tucson, AZ, USA who has tried this beer once. (6/10/2008 1:39:28 AM)
"Vintage 2006, bottle 70/235; Sampled June 2008
A fairly vigorous pour produces a one-finger thick, darkly browned, tan colored head in my 25cl tulip glass. The beer is simply black as it sits in my glass and no amount of putting up to the light makes it anything but opaque. The aroma has a tartness to it that is strongly influenced by Bourbon-like notes and likely coffee. Roast coffee notes actually play a big role and mix with some fruity, burnt prune notes and lots of deeply toasted malt notes. There is also a nice aroma of richly toasted coconut that still has a touch of sweetness of coconut meat. It also seems to get just a touch musty at times, which mixes in with a lightly spicy oak character and a touch of estery alcohol aromas.
Thick and rich feeling as it firsts hits my tongue, creamy dark malt notes hint at lots of residual sugars, but don't really contribute much sweetness to this beer. A very light carbonation also contributes to the creamy feeling of this brew. Towards the finish the beer thins out considerably while picking up acrid roast notes and sharp, burnt acid quality and a huge bitterness that seems just as much from burnt malt and roast coffee influenced as from the hops. The dual roast influences of coffee and malt actually contribute a tartness that is noticeable throughout the flavor profile, not just the finish, but it is tempered a bit up front by the unctuous body.
As the beer warms up a bit it begins to lose a touch of the acrid character, but seems to pick up a bit more alcoholic heat. This last seems to accent a note reminiscent of burnt prunes. While rich and malty this is surprisingly dry tasting; the thick residual sugars seems to be so well balanced by the roast and barrel flavors that they are not really noticeable. At most there is a noticeable chocolate / cocoa note here, but even this is pretty devoid of sweetness. There is also a touch of almost salty, sort of peat like smokiness that is likely a combination of roast malt and barrel influences. By my second pour the salty, peat-smoke like qualities of this brew are accented even a bit more. This last, in combination with the rich, dark malt flavors really save this beer for me; though it still has an overwhelming bitter and acrid finish at times.
I do like that the barrel influence does not absolutely overwhelm this beer. I am not sure if this is still too young or what, but the roasted grain notes really get overly acrid and bitter in the finish. The barrel influence also contributes to an overall impression of this being unbalanced. This is not nearly as unbalanced or undrinkable as the BA Old Numbskull though, and is even enjoyable in its own right. I think that the complexity of the aged, base beer and the lightish influence of the barrel make this at the very least worth procuring for me."
Aroma:
8/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
7/10
Overall:
6/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.5)
Sampled: Bottle Sample Size: 750ml @ $0 Unit Cost: $0 per Pint
[2] Review by RobertD1944 from San Francisco, CA, USA who has tried this beer once. (7/13/2007 12:21:52 AM)
"Sad to say, I do not feel that the barrel aging process helped this beer a whole lot. In fact, I think it weakened it somewhat (althought based on other reviews the brewer may have given me a bad bottle - no wonder it was free!). Similar qualities to the original version but the barrell aging process seems to add some unnecessary alcohol flavour that ruins it for me."
Aroma:
7/10
Appearance:
9/10
Mouthfeel:
9/10
Flavor:
6/10
Overall:
7/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(3.8)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
[3] Review by eaglefan538 from DE, USA who has tried this beer once. (12/28/2006 8:28:52 PM)
"I like but don't rant and rave about the barrell aged trend. I also love Speedway, so it's hard to tweek w/ something that's already that good (kinda like those folks that remake Beatles tunes, just don't do it, leave 'em alone…. Well, maybe not that extreme, cuz this was darned nice, but..... the straight up Speedway is beautiful, this was just really really nice.) The appearance was pitch black, very thin late developing head (like a dry stout on v. weak nitro), which disappeared as fast as it appeared, although it still provided light lacing somehow. The aroma was oak, coffee, bourbon, raisins. With increasing temperatures, the aroma released some burnt notes along with some true oak. The flavor was raisins, coffee (I wanted more, like the non-aged Speedway), raisins, some bourbon (definitely not overdone, but while it didn't end up so, it could have used a touch more), light oak, light burnt flavors, chocolate came about with increasing temperatures. The most impressive part may have been the hop hold up, this thing finished with a touch of pine hops, not bad for something 2 years old and barrel aged. Mouthfeel still retained some carbonation, far from a flat beer, and this was comparable in overall mouthfeel to the straight Speedway, perhaps a touch more sticky. A great big huge thanks to my good and very fun beer friend, Bert, who insisted he was holding this for me one day. Congrats on 1200, my friend, and thanks for sharing this gem from 2004, bottle 15 out of 228, I'm honored."
Aroma:
9/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
9/10
Flavor:
9/10
Overall:
8/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(4.3)
Sampled: Bottle
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure
[4] Review by aracauna from Adairsville, GA, USA who has tried this beer once. (8/31/2006 9:05:06 PM)
"One of the more balanced BA offerings. The vanilla melds into the coffee melds into the chocolate melds into the ash melds into the alcohol. Good stuff. "
Aroma:
9/10
Appearance:
8/10
Mouthfeel:
6/10
Flavor:
8/10
Overall:
9/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(4)
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure Compared to this brewer's other beers: Not Sure
[5] Review by herbjones from Orange, CA, USA who has tried this beer (10/30/2005 11:21:43 AM)
"A thin head the color of cocoa powder sits on top of the thickest darkest black imaginable. The aroma is enticing but the flavors are the payoff. Coffee and chocolate with vanilla hinting in the background. All rolling across the tongue like liquid velvet.The barrel aging produced remarkable results. Speedway is one of my all time favorites and I didnt think it could improve so much!"
Aroma:
9/10
Appearance:
10/10
Mouthfeel:
10/10
Flavor:
8/10
Overall:
10/10
Final Rating, by Style:
(4.7)
Value of this beer for its style: Not Sure Compared to this brewer's other beers: Not Sure
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(3.5)
