Brewery: Anderson Valley Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 6.9%
Style: American Stout
Other Notes: Aged to perfection in bourbon barrels
Brewer Description: (from website) Aged for three months in Wild Turkey® Bourbon barrels, this luxurious stout has a deep ebony hue and a beautiful mahogany head. The woody, vanilla-like notes imparted by the barrels mingle with aromas of fresh baked bread, toffee, and espresso and envelop the rich chocolate and roasted barley flavors with a fine bourbon character.
Our exclusive partnership with Wild Turkey® gives us a world class, consistent source of barrelage, allowing our brewers to explore new frontiers in barrel-aged craft beer. Since its introduction, Wild Turkey® has maintained a distinctive distillation and aging process that gives it a smooth taste and a lingering flavor. They also use differentiated process whereby the bourbon is distilled at a low proof to seal in its flavors. Very little water is added to the bourbon, resulting in a full-flavored authentic taste similar to what one would get straight out of the barrel. Wild Turkey is a genuine drink with a sought after “burn” that comes from its high proof, an attribute fundamental to the brand and critical in maintaining its authentic bourbon characteristics.
My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.59
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5
Intro: A 650ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into an Anderson Valley ‘can’ glass.
Appearance: Dark brown to black in colour with a big almost four finger tanned head that had pretty good retention and left some lacing.
Aroma: Roasty, chocolate, bourbon, vanilla with hints of coffee and oak.
Taste: Bourbon sweetness and oak with only hints of any roast, chocolate or stout in the background. The roastiness comes out more as it warms, but in the end still not enough for me.
Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: Too much bourbon and a lack of stout identity for me. For the amount of bourbon, body was also lower than I prefer.