Photo courtesy of Oak and Vine

I love side-by-side tastings. They really isolate the effects of a manipulation to a beer. Some are more challenging to operationalize than others.

Blindman Brewing recently released not one, but two barrel-aged versions of its imperial stout, Ichorous. Not long before they also released a new version of the original beer. Seems a perfect opportunity for a side-by-side. Except that all three versions are 11% alcohol or more, meaning drinking all three in one night would leave one loopy. Sure, I could have a friend over, but I find that detracts from focussed sampling and note-taking. I could also just drink some of each and dump the rest, but – really, why?!?

So, my decision this time was to make it an ALMOST side-by-side. I sampled one each night for three nights, taking care to take precise notes to prevent memory distortion.

The three beer were the regular Ichorous Imperial Stout and then one version aged in red wine oak and one in bourbon oak. The regular version will be a newer batch, I am told, so the comparison is not exact (accounting for small variations between batches). Still, it is a pretty good exploration of how barrel-aging affects beer and, in particular, how different kinds of barrels change the beer.

The original version pours inky black, deep and dark. It builds a medium tan head pockmarked with white spots and with tight bubbles. Eventually forms a consistent blanket. It has a low carbonation. The aroma has molasses, dark chocolate, light roast coffee, dark fruit, roasted almonds and a hint of milky sweetness.

The sip brings out chocolate, some nuttiness and a gentle malt sweetness at first. I have to say it starts rather modest and not too cloying. The middle dries out a bit by bringing in some coffee and darker chocolate notes as well as a clean undertone. The back end has touches of earthy hops, dry roast and milky sweetness. There is almost a mocha latte feel to the finish. The linger has a mix of sharp hops, light coffee roast and chocolate. Light fruity esters linger in background. It has a silky, creamy mouthfeel.

Overall it is a very appetizing beer. Clean, balanced and the flavours blend well for such a young age. Tons of potential for a couple years from now.

I next tried the red wine barrel. It, too, pours opaque black, but looks thinner somehow. No head forms at all, giving it something of a cola appearance. The aroma has subdued roast and chocolate character along with noted dark fruit. No wine character in the aroma. It is a fairly flat aroma.

The flavour offers some mild chocolate and coffee notes at first, overtaken by a strong wood character, vanilla, wood, hints of smoke. Middle brings out a bit of earthy red wine. If find the beer has thinned out a fair bit and has lost the creaminess of the original. A rustic finish of wood and alcohol. Linger brings some roast back out as well as an alcohol warming.

The beer seems rather flat and loses much of the fulsomeness of the original without adding much new character. Some wood is present but otherwise it is less interesting.

Finally I tried the Kentucky Bourbon, which indicates it also has some toasted coconut.

Like the others it pours opaque black, but seems deeper than wine version, while less deep than original. It forms a dark tan head that drops relatively quickly, but leaves a thin wisp. The aroma is dominated by  chocolate liqueur notes – chocolate and bourbon, like those liqueur filled chocolates at Xmas. I also pick up some light coffee in background and dark fruits.

The flavour starts with  dark fruit, milk chocolate and a hint of vanilla. The middle brings out both a woody character and some bourbon sweetness, which intermingles with a butterscotch note and more chocolate. The finish offers an earthy bourbon whiskey feel mixing with a hint of roast. The linger is alcohol, whiskey and chocolate milk.

This version holds more of the beer’s original character and as a result blends well with the bourbon barrel effects. It does lose some of its silkiness and richness, but replaces it with a pleasant wood character to create an interesting beer.

The main observation is how much the barrels transformed the beer. They were three VERY different beer. The wood thins out the beer and strips away some of the richness found in the original. However, it is supposed to impart some oak character and other features to balance out the effect, which was more successful in the bourbon barrel than the wine barrel.

Clearly what was in the barrel also matters a lot. Frankly, I was disappointed in the red wine barrel. I couldn’t really tell that it had wine in it before as it didn’t really impart anything I expect from red wine. Maybe a less intense beer style might bring out some of the fruity notes of the wine, but they get lost in this beer. In contrast, you can see why brewers like using bourbon barrels, it adds a noticeable flavour that creates a new dimension to the beer. I didn’t really get any coconut in the beer – again possibly a victim of the beer’s overall intensity.

This experiment suggests to me that a) wood-aged is a useful thing to do with certain styles (but we all already knew that), and b) be careful which kind of barrel you put your beer in. The red wine didn’t work with this beer (maybe with a barley wine it might work?), at least for me. The bourbon was a nice fit, however. And, of course, that original beer is solid, which I guess is c) be sure to use a solid base beer when barrel aging.

Ichorous is impressive. So is Blindman’s experiment with aging it in different types of barrels. Can’t fault someone for experimenting, can you?