KOTBR Review #16: Barley Island's Bourbon Barrel Beers

Normally, the Knights of the Beer Roundtable are able to agree on a beer for reviewing and then drink it together at the same time. Our night at Barley Island was a bit looser. We all drank several of the beers they have on tap, plus a couple that weren't. In the end, we came to a general consensus to review the two Bourbon Barrel beers that we sample, the Oatmeal Stout and the IPA. This review resulted in some of the widest ranges of beer ratings. Here are the Knights' ratings and postings, beginning with the Bourbon Barrel IPA:

Mike starts us off on way he gave it a 2.5 mug rating...

I am not a drinker of hard liquor, so neither bourbon beer was particularly suited to my tastes...If you had blindfolded me and placed the glass in front of me I never would have suspected I was smelling beer...A sip of the IPA really brought out the bourbon, with a slightly flowery, hoppy note mixed in. It really tasted very similar to the way it smelled.

Jason follows by giving the IPA a knockout 3.5 mug rating...

[It is] an IPA that is heavy in bourbon aroma and strong on alcohol flavor. It's an incredible one-two punch. POW! Strong bourbon bite comes from the left. BAM! The IPA hoppiness punch comes in from the right. If you are a gluten for punishment (I am), this beer is right up your alley.

And here is what the Knights said with the more popular Bourbon Barrel Oatmeal Stout:

Mike again starts, this time giving the beer 3 mugs...

I felt like the bourbon worked better in the stout...it made me think of film noir, cigarette smoke, and contemplative depression. But in a good, sort of romantic way.

Jason riffs on the stout, giving it a 4.5 mug rating

...the Stout takes on my favorite characteristic of bourbon: the caramelized malt flavor and aroma. The beer's aroma had a subtle hint of bourbon and the malty goodness that you appreciate in a stout is emphasized even more with the added bourbon component.

Chris finishes the geeky review by concurring with Jason and giving the Stout a 4.5 ...

...it was better the warmer it got...this is a really good beer, especially if you still have a stomach of steel and can take bourbon...

Can you guess who the Hoosier Bourbon Geeks are? Find out by checking out the individual reviews...

John Lee Hooker would dig these beers

While drinking the two Bourbon barrel-aged beers that Barley Island's Jeff Eaton provided us, I couldn't help but think of the song "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer". Now many folks will probably think of George Thoroughgood when I mention this song, though I should point out that it was written by the late, great blues man John Lee Hooker and he first recorded it in 1966.

Mr. Hooker was a man of great taste and knew that these three drinks complimented each other well. So it only makes sense that some beers will taste really good with a bourbon hit to it. And I think it is important to understand why.

What is bourbon? It is an American whiskey whose grains consist of mostly corn but also includes a combination of wheat, rye, and malted barley, distilled in water, and aged in charred oak barrels. And I should point out that I am a fan of bourbon. Actually, I'm a Hoosier Bourbon Geek. Sounds like a great name for a new blog...

So let's look at the two beers that we sampled. One was their Brass Knuckles Oatmeal Stout, which is heavy on the malts, and the other is their Barfly India Pale Ale, which is heavy on the hops. Just from the simple description of one beer was malty, the other hoppy, you should be able to determine which beer should match better with bourbon.

The Bourbon Stout was incredible. They take a used Buffalo Trace bourbon barrel and pour their stout in. The stout soaks up some of the residual flavors and aromas of the bourbon. When finished, the Stout takes on my favorite characteristic of bourbon: the caramelized malt flavor and aroma. The beer's aroma had a subtle hint of bourbon and the malty goodness that you appreciate in a stout is emphasized even more with the added bourbon component.

The Bourbon IPA was a first for me. Jeff pointed out that they used bourbon barrels that have already had beer in it for their Bourbon IPA. To put it crudely, IPA gets the Stouts sloppy seconds. I think the IPA in all its hoppiness is able to pull out all the residual bitters and alcohol from the barrel. It results in an IPA that is heavy in bourbon aroma and strong on alcohol flavor. It's an incredible one-two punch. POW! Strong bourbon bite comes from the left. BAM! The IPA hoppiness punch comes in from the right. If you are a gluten for punishment (I am), this beer is right up your alley.

I enjoyed both beers. The Bourbon Stout would pair well with a prime rib dinner. The Bourbon IPA would pair well with spicy Indian, Thai, or Tex-Mex cuisine. Both have their place; both I would drink again in a heart beat.

I'm giving 4.5 mugs to the Bourbon Stout. Everything about it was wonderful for me: the aroma, the dark pour, the thick head, the creamy mouthfeel, the slight dry aftertaste, the tasty malty wonderfulness. I'll be purchasing some 22 ounce bottles from Barley Island soon.

I'm giving the Bourbon IPA a 3.5 mug rating. It's a beer that I have to be in the mood for. The aroma is overwhelmingly bourbon, the pour was light, the head thin, and the mouthfeel crisp. It has a bite. A double bite. It's like the clash of the titans in my mouth, but in a good way.

I want to thank Jeff for meeting with us, talking to us, and taking us on the brewery tour. And kudos to him for turning his home brewing passion into a vocation.

Bourbon Barrel Bewailment

During last evening's session, Chris (or was it Jason?) make a point of explaining to our host (Barley Island owner Jeff Eaton) that we were beer geeks, not beer snobs. I think the point was to let Jeff know that we might be in over our heads on the beer talk. Once the brewery tour started, I might as well have been a passenger on the beer Titanic.

But that doesn't mean I couldn't appreciate the effort involved in bringing Barley Island's brews to your local liquor store. The amount of repetitive labor involved in packaging just a six pack had me thinking back to my days interning for the Department of Defense, where I once spent a week formatting diskettes - the IT department equivalent of peeling potatoes.

Every bottle of Barley Island beer that leaves their facility is individually loaded into a machine, where the beer label is affixed. Every cardboard six pack container is hand folded. The bottling process is just as intensive; bottles are loaded into a wooden hopper by hand, and then fed into a machine that fills the bottles and affixes the bottle cap.

Of course I haven't even mentioned the brewing process, because the steps involved are lost on me. But our tour was amazingly informative, and I now understand why the folks at BeerAdvocate.com included respecting brewers as a important step in reviewing beer.

I might as well get to the actual beer. Over the course of the evening I sampled five of Barley Island's products - The Dirty Helen Brown Ale, the Bourbon IPA, the Bourbon Barrel-Aged Oatmel Stout, an unfinished batch of the Sheet Metal Blonde, and the award winning Black Majic Java Stout.

I am not a drinker of hard liquor, so neither bourbon beer was particularly suited to my tastes. Both the IPA and the Stout had a strong nose of Bourbon, though the odor was a bit more prevalent in the Stout. If you had blindfolded me and placed the glass in front of me I never would have suspected I was smelling beer.

The IPA had a pumpkin colored cloudy appearance with very little head, while the Stout was a dark, flat brown, and looked almost like a glass of Coca-Cola. A sip of the IPA really brought out the bourbon, with a slightly flowery, hoppy note mixed in. It really tasted very similar to the way it smelled.

I felt like the bourbon worked better in the stout, where it wasn't overpowering and mixed well with the taste of coffee. It was a light and smooth beer, but not something you'd want to drink fast. Oddly enough, it made me think of film noir, cigarette smoke, and contemplative depression. But in a good, sort of romantic way.

Neither bourbon beer really suited my pallet, to be honest, but that isn't to say that I'm not a fan of Barley Island's work; Their Java Stout is right up my alley. And if you're a fan of Bourbon, I'm sure both of these beers are well worth your attention.

So there's a little bit of regret when I write that I'd give the Bourbon IPA (a qualified, but honest) 2.5 mugs, and the Bourbon Stout (a qualified, honest) 3 mugs.

I'd like to thank Jeff Eaton and the staff at Barley Island for their hospitality and time, and I hope to visit again soon.