Met with my local tasting group. We were meeting weekly but it’s been a while so we did a small one with just three of us. We did Goose Island Bourbon County Vanilla Stout 2010, Terrapin Side Project Big Daddy Vlady’s Russian Imperial Stout, Beatification 2012 (reviewed already), Kissmeyer West Coast Pale Ale and my friend’s home brew.
AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
adamjackson (229) – Canaan, USA – APR 23, 2012
A – Half-Finger yellow and creamy head. Light orange beer with some solid haze.
S – Vanilla, oranges, mango, hops, tangerine and cinnamon. Delicious smelling beer!
T – Fallen off for sure. hops were faded and rough around the edges. Cream, spices and oranges.Still very tasty.
M – 20/80 carbonation, dry with lingering hops and pepper spices
O – Solid C…perhaps a B if fresh.
Terrapin Side Project Big Daddy Vlady’s Russian Imperial Stout
AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
adamjackson (229) – Canaan, USA – APR 23, 2012
A – No head, great lacing and light amber color on the edges of the glass. Midnight black beer.
S – Bourbon, cocoa and roasted malts with a hint of figs
T – Rye whiskey, chocolate milk, heavy malts
M – Very heavy, lots of booze, sweet and roasty. Dry finish.
O – Great beer but a bit too heavy. The booze is hot and needs to cool off a bit. Maybe another year and it would have been fantastic.
Goose Island Bourbon County Vanilla Stout
AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
adamjackson (229) – Canaan, USA – APR 23, 2012
A – Small tan head that subsided quickly, Huge head lacing on the edges of the glass. Pitch black with some brown edges
S – Licorice fills the nose followed by Bourbon and a slight hint of vanilla and malts.
T – Huge vanilla taste. Sweet cane sugar, bourbon and cream. Raisins are here in a big way as well.
M – 20/80 carbonation on a mouth swish, very slick beer with a dry finish. Lingering vanilla notes
O – This was bottled so long ago, I assumed vanilla would have been long gone. Nope. Huge vanilla taste but the sweetness was a bit too much for me.