Firstly, this is the first beer I've ever had that has a "best after" date (Dec 31, 2014).
Pours a very dark brown - maybe somewhere between a scotch ale and porter. Off-white head pops up, and then quickly disappears.
Aroma is beautiful - sticky toffee pudding, raisins, oak, vanilla. Bourbon, obviously. Somewhat of a floral notes from the hops.
First thing about the taste is the heat. They're not kidding that these bottles need to settle down for a bit. It's a little hard to decipher the hops for the heat of the booze, and I'm realizing that the 28 IBUs, is probably pretty accurate. It becomes a little difficult to pick out the flavours, here, but the deep rich fruity malts do blend nicely with the barrel flavours, and then the booze comes back for the finish.
Don't let the sharp booziness fool you - it works well together, and in a year, this thing is going to be a delicious desserty malt bomb with great barrel flavours.
To celebrate the release on Thursday (in my house), I cracked a bottle of the year old BBARIS from a year ago. Some of you may remember the sharpness when it was young - you'll be pleased to know that it's an absolute star a year later. The bourbon-barrel fades nicely into the flavours of a well aged stout.
I'm positive the same will happen to this.
Having said all that don't deny yourself the pleasure of trying one fresh. I think you may surprise yourself how drinkable it is, but you may want to make it your only bottle for the night.
It's delicious, and a value at 9.95, but not something I would hoard only because I'd want lots of people to have access. Far be it from me to tell people how to shop and drink, but I think it would be great if we could get as many people to try this as possible. Certainly, though, make sure you buy at least one to age and one to try now.
And if you could grab some for friends in regions where they might not have access, all the better. And even that may change - with the 25th Anniversary BBARIS, I was really happy when a case made it to my Brampton, local, so here's hoping for the best.
Cheers,
J.
