Holy City Brewing Barrel Aged Collision Stout

Holy City Brewing Barrel Aged Collision Stout is an American Double/Imperial Stout, 9.5% ABV. The brown wax dipped bottle is hand labeled #153 and marked with a packaging date of 12/23 (2016?). There is no specific indication of what kind of barrel the beer was aged in.

Not a pitch black beer, but this seems to be at the most extreme brown part of the color spectrum as you can get. An aggressive pour helped to create a solid dark tan head that settled to a thin layer on top of the beer. The aroma implies some kind of whiskey or bourbon barrel was used to age this. Strong notes of boozy bourbon, sweet chocolate, a little vanilla, and mild roasted malts make up a rather inviting aroma. The taste is similar to start with the chocoalte, bourbon and vanilla combo hitting my palate first. A mixture of toasted marshmallow and slightly nutty roasted malt comes into the taste next. There is also a kind of sour dark fruit/cherry flavor going on starting about mid-taste as well. I’m not sure if that was an intended byproduct of the barrel aging, but I am actually enjoying it quite a bit. A little alcohol burn starts to hit the gut after several sips. I’d put this on the thinner side of the mouth-feel scale. Although I usually prefer a thicker feel for this kind of stout, it works with that more fruity tart note.

It seems this beer is on the limited side, but does get released from time to time. I’d absoulutley put this is the “well worth a try” category if you can find a bottle, it was a great lazy Sunday sipper for me!