Berkshire Brewing Co. Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout
I remember when Berkshire Brewing really got going, in the mid 1990′s while I was a college student out in the Pioneer Valley. At the time small brewers such as them were a rarity in that part of Massachusetts, just as the craft brewing movement was catching steam. They soon came out with a couple of beers that you could find pretty frequently in local shops or taps, the Steel Rail Extra Pale Ale and the Drayman’s Porter.
But ever since first tasting their beers I’ve found them to be a somewhat nondescript brewery. All of the beers they brew are ok, certainly enjoyable, but none of them overwhelming. A restaurant here where we live always has one BBC beer on tap, most recently their Holidale 2008. While most of their offerings that we’ve tried here have been good enough, this was actually the first beer I’ve had from BBC that really caught my attention in its own right. It’s their annual barleywine that succeeds in carrying a fair amount of flavor in a deceptively light and easy drinking body, making for a dangerously good beer.
And so when I heard about the recent release of their Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout, my ears pricked up and I took some notice. I’m consistently attracted to the notion of bourbon-barrel aged beers, despite having tried a few and been unimpressed. That is, with the exception of a couple of amazing bourbon-barrel aged Belgian-style beers from Allagash that I tasted this past Fall. I suppose that it’s on account of the fact that I enjoy whiskey to the extent that I do that I keep turning my attention to bourbon-barrel aged beers. I think that I want them to be better than I’ve found most of them to actually be.
Yet, I genuinely enjoy a good imperial stout, and think this type of beer has the best chance of marrying well with a bourbon barrel. Theoretically I’m convinced that the flavors of a good bourbon whiskey are best suited to melding with those of a deep, dark imperial stout. In much the same way that coffee or chocolate flavors and big stouts match together so well, the vanilla, caramel, and smoky flavors of bourbon and the thick, roasted viscosity of an imperial stout seem a match made in heaven. (Fortunately, this coming weekend at the 4th Extreme Beer Festival I’ll have the chance to put this theory to the test, as there will be several bourbon-barrel aged stouts on offer.)
So the BBC Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout, given the strong reception it’s received, seemed a good opportunity to put this theory to the test, and since it is also proving to be somewhat hard to find, I picked up a bottle when I ran across it recently.
The beer pours a deep, dark brown with distinct ruby highlights. A thin head of tan foam forms and quickly dissipates leaving little lacing. The nose has strong notes of whiskey, accompanied by vanilla, faint red berries, and a hint of oak. The palate has sweet caramel, vanilla, bittersweet chocolate, a dry, tannic oakiness, and a hint of roasted malt. The texture is initially slightly creamy, but this quickly gives way to a thin body lacking in depth. The finish has hints of vanilla and bittersweet chocolate, while being somewhat astringent with whiskey and oak.
On the whole what this beer proved to me is that there is a lot of potential in the marriage of whiskey barrels and imperial stouts. Yet, I do think this beer missed the mark. My impression is that the strong, powerful flavors from the bourbon-barrel need a stout with more of its own backbone. The BBC Imperial Stout weighs in normally at 8.5%, so you can probably assume that this beer is about the same, perhaps a shade higher. But more than anything, I don’t think this is about throwing a bigger, higher-ABV beer at the barrel. Instead, the bourbon barrel needs to be matched with a beer that has a more assertive and bold malt character and body, which this BBC stout does not have. Nonetheless, the unique flavors in this beer went nicely with a smoky creme brulee, illuminating some of the intriguing flavor combinations that a bourbon-barrel aged beer can bring to the table.
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