REVIEW: Great Crescent Bourbon Barrel Stout

So it's been months since I've taken a look at a stout. Mostly because of the weather. As much as I enjoy a big malty, roasty, dark beer, it just doesn't sound super appetizing when it's 95 degrees outside. But there are times when my desire for a stout outweighs the influence of the weather. This is one of those times. Also this particular stout is aged in old bourbon barrels. There's a Ron Swanson bacon wrapped shrimp joke somewhere in there but I can't quite put my finger on it. So anyways, it's been a very long time since I've looked at a stout and what better way to get back on the horse than with one aged in Maker's Mark barrels? To the beer!

Great Crescent's Bourbon Bourbon Barrel Stout pours a dark inky black. It's completely opaque. Not a highlight to be found. It's topped by a good amount of resilient mocha colored head.

The barrel aging is evident immediately on the nose. Boozy notes of charred vanilla bourbon hit first. Followed quickly by roasty aromas of baker's chocolate and roast espresso.

This beer is very sweet. Big chocolate, caramel, roasty malt flavors lead the way. It finishes with bitter coffee flavors. It's a very smooth big bodied beer. The barrel aging adds a boozy vanilla oak character to the proceedings, but doesn't seem as complex as I would've liked. There's also not much in the way of hop bitterness going on. Great Crescent's website bills this beer at 67 IBUs, which I don't know if i see. The only bitterness I tasted were from those coffee like flavors. As such, it makes the sweetness almost overbearing, nearly cloying.

This beer really didn't do much for me, which is disappointing. I usually love bourbon barrel aged beers. But this one was just too syrupy sweet. A little bit more hop bitterness mightve balanced things out and allowed some more complexity to be found underneath all of that sweetness. As it is though, I can't really recommend this beer. There are better uses of your time and cash.