Anderson Valley Wild Turkey Bourbon Barrel Stout
Complexity. Aged for three months in Wild Turkey Bourbon barrels, this luxurious stout has a deep ebony hue and a beautiful mahogany head. The woody, vanilla-like notes imparted by the barrels mingle with aromas of fresh baked bread, toffee, and espresso and envelop the rich chocolate and roasted barley flavors with a fine bourbon character. Our exclusive partnership with Wild Turkey gives Anderson Valley a world class, consistent source of barrelage, allowing our brewers to explore new frontiers in barrel-aged craft beer.
3.7
849 reviews
Boonville, United States
Community reviews
Bottle poured into a tulip.
Aroma: Chocolate and coffee dominant, caramel with roast malt and some vanilla. Does's strike me as a barrel aged stout.
Appearance: Standard dark brown to black body with light brown head, head is thin, poor head retention. Usually, stout head doesn't last very long.
Flavor: Coffee flavor with vanilla. I can barely taste the bourbon barrel, to be honest. Kinda creamy, kinda oak-y. Light sweetness, with somewhat acidic hint (I don't know why). Mediocore aftertaste.
Mouthfeel: Disappointing. Very watered down as a barrel aged stout. The finish is neither dry nor smooth.
Overall: I am quite disappointed by this beer. And how can you make a BBS with only 6.9% ABV???? I mean, what? This gotta be one of the worst BBS I have ever tasted.
Draft at the American Taproom in Singapore. Appearance of the pour is dark brown black with a good finger and a half of tan froth, which persists a bit before fizzing away into a thin layer. Aroma is dominated by the alcohol, which overwhelms the bourbon by a fair bit, and definitely subsumes all the malts and roast and other aromas. Taste again is dominated by the alcohol and bourbon, almost tasting as though I was sipping from Wild Turkey instead of a stout. This does not really change upon warming, which seems a pity. Probably great for the bourbon lovers, but I was expecting a more complex interplay of flavours instead. I wonder if this has to do with the time between kegging and pouring.
Bottle. Deep brown with a tan head. Aroma is boozy and coffee. Taste is dark roasted grains, coffee with hints of bourbon.
A 650ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into an Anderson Valley ‘can’ glass. It was dark brown to black in colour with a big almost four finger tanned head that had pretty good retention and left some lacing. Aromas roasty, chocolate, bourbon, vanilla with hints of coffee and oak. Tastes of bourbon sweetness and oak with only hints of any roast, chocolate or stout in the background. The roastiness comes out more as it warms, but in the end still not enough for me. Light to medium bodied with soft carbonation. Overall too much bourbon and a lack of stout identity for me. For the amount of bourbon, body was also lower than I prefer.
Lots of wild turkey with a smaller amount of detectable stout beneath the whiskey. Roast and caramel. Black pour with OK head and lacing. Bittersweet and boozy end. Tap at Yard House DC.
0,65l bottle. Pours black with big beige head. Aroma is dominated by roast & coffee notes, with the bourbon barrel in the back, also getting some cocoa. Taste is dry, roast, coffee, caramel, vanilla, bourbon barrel. Thin mouthfeel (as is typical for the oatmeal stout style), soft carbonation.
6.9%ABV. Stout.
Tapped out black brown. 38 °SRM.
Nose has aromas of wood, vanilla, earthy, rotting leaf fall. Charcoal, woodsmoke,
Mouthfeel is light and dry.
Palate has flavors of dark toast and roasted grains. There is a hint of astringency.
Hop flavors are woody, light sap.
Finish is light, dry with a hint of ume fruitiness.
Overall, a decent barrel-aged stout. Not much depth, but considering the ABV, a good effort.
Ok. The bourbon notes doesn’t work well with the stout
650ml bottle (thanks, Mathieu P.!) shared with Andrey. Pours an almost black with a beige head. Aroma is a bit sweet with nice bourbon and slight fruity notes. Taste is similar with caramel notes. A bit overcarbonated. Good one, though.
Strong bourbon aroma, sweet woody and vanilla candy
Pours black with small tan head
Caramel milky flavor with chocolate raisin, bready vanilla, dolce de lecha.
Medium full bodied, medium low CO2, sweet bready finish.
Very enjoyable and smooth. Easy to drink. Glad I like to drink this one.
Half growler. Deep ebony with a creamy, brown sugar head. Subdued but pleasant nose of bread pudding with touches of cocoa and coffee. Flavors of chocolate, vanilla, blackberry and mild notes of gingerbread and banana. Finish has espresso and graham cracker with a hint of oak. Medium mouthfeel and smooth low-medium fizz. A mild astringency keeps the big malt nicely in check.
Strong whiskey aroma, white head. Flavor is much more bland than expected.
Quite thick with a reasonable amount going on. Very malty, like malted milk biscuits with vegemite and dark chocolate. An Imperial Stout ‘lite’
64 oz growler poured into a pint glass. Autumn is here, hence it's time for porters and stouts. This is the second stout from Anderson Valley recently rated. This is better than the first one sampled from a bomber. Definitely can taste the bourbon effect. A good stout indeed, but the bourbon thing might not be my thing. Try this fine ale for yourself and see what you think!
We had this at the red Arrow tap room Naperville Illinois in September 2018 it was a very mild bourbon barrel aged
Earlier Rating: 6/3/2018 Total Score: 4
Nice whiskey aroma, barrel, bourbon, bit of peat, chocolate, caramel, light coffee. Pitch black color with small sized brown head. Taste is pretty strong and complex too, chocolate bourbon, sweet licorice, strong coconut, caramel, light smoke. Body is extremely thin with such intense taste, feels bit weird at first. Overall very nice. //0,65 bottle from don't remember where
65cl bottle at home, bought at Just in Beer. Appearance: pitchblack with medium sized beige head. Aroma: dark malts, bourbon, vanilla. Taste: pretty high sweetness and medium bitterness. Notes dark malts, bourbon, vanilla, slightly soapy. Palate: medium bodied, sticky texture and soft carbonation. Overall: pretty good stuff.
Schönes großes Fläschchen. In der Nase ist deutlich das Fass auszumachen. Im Trunk leicht wässrig, wenig Bourbon, etwas Schokolade. Das ist leider viel zu wenig intensiv - kann garnicht glauben, dass das fast 7% hat.
Pours up a dark black with a small but frothy brown head. Aroma has bourbon right up front, with heavy booze. Not overly stout-like. Taste delivers the same dry woody bourbon, hefty booze, and some mild vanilla, toffee and astringency. OK But far from a high level stout.
Pours dark with a medium head. Taste like oak and bourbon. Hints of caramel and toffee.
Nice head with great lacing. Black color. Perfect mouthfeel. Looks the part and plays it. Beautiful flavor, balanced, although perhaps a tad too rich, almost buttery flavor.
Since when I first received this bottle as a gift, I wondered what to expect from this beer and whether it would have only a mild bourbon accent or rather try to be a lighter version of a bourbon imperial stout. From the bottle, poured not as pitch dark as a full strength imperial stout, visible red highlights around the perimeter, and had a quickly dissipating head, looks like an average American stout. Aroma and flavor however are both heavy on bourbon vanilla and wood, overwhelming so. Simplistic, but I enjoy the bourbon intensity. Behind the vanilla there are some background malt flavors of chocolate and warm toasted bread, some other roasty flavors, but I wouldn't call it complex. Casually drinkable and refreshing as such, the 22 ounce bottle was perfect to enjoy with a Friday night movie. The aftertaste however unpleasantly lingered for hours afterwards, I felt like I was still getting whiffs of bourbon on my tongue the next morning. I may not return to this brew for that reason.
Draft sample. Pitch black color with a nice khaki head. Definitely has a Wild Turkey nose. Eh, it tastes okay if you like Wild Turkey, but I don't.
Quite thin. Barrel notes are clear and nice. Too alcoholy.
Bottle at SMX bottle share, pours dark brown with a beige head. Chocolate, bourbon, wood, some tobacco. A bit thin (not surprising given the abv), ok.
Bottle, 650 ml, courtesy of Max. Shared with him and JFK10000. Pours black with medium beige head. Some bourbon, chocolate, roasted malts, bitterish finish. Smooth. Seems a bit thin to support the barrel. Soft carbonation. Medium bodied.
Dark brown color with mocha head. Aroma had nice toffee, butterscotch and dried dates with a light fruit acidity. Taste follows with toffee and dried fruits, really well integrated but it fades towards the finish and doesn't linger too much. Medium to light body, medium carbonation. Really nice aroma but the low ABV doesn't support the flavor too well and overall feels kind of watery.
Very rich sent on first taste Rich deep slightly alcoholic slight hops chocolate earthy taste slight chocolate and malt with a hint of dark fruits
Black colour, small off-white head with medium retention. Creamy compact lace.
Aroma of chocolate, coffee, licorice, dried fruits.
Medium body, sticky texture, normal carbonation.
Taste of chocolate, coffee, caramel, red and dried fruits.
To be barrel aged, IMO, it lacks of some more punch and graduation is too low.