Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout
Willett Whiskey Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
A Big, Dark, and Scary Barrel-Aged Beast
Our friends over at Kentucky’s own Willett Distillery have one kind of barrel: wood. And they put two things in them: Bourbon and Rye. We were fortunate enough to get some of their Rye barrels, and we put our Imperial Stout in them. It’s a chocolatey, coffee-y, smoky, Bourbon-y beast of a barrel-aged thing. Word.
A Big, Dark, and Scary Barrel-Aged Beast
Our friends over at Kentucky’s own Willett Distillery have one kind of barrel: wood. And they put two things in them: Bourbon and Rye. We were fortunate enough to get some of their Rye barrels, and we put our Imperial Stout in them. It’s a chocolatey, coffee-y, smoky, Bourbon-y beast of a barrel-aged thing. Word.
4
233 reviews
Petaluma, United States
Community reviews
Bottle at BBT 2/2022. Full body, med-high carbonation. Malt centered, with loads of chocolate, coffee, pleasant coconut-vanilla wood. Med-high sweetness, balanced by medium roasty bitterness. Remains rather sweet, but pleasantly so. Very rich, tasty, balanced. Great.
Black color with medium beige head. Aroma: sweet coffee, lactose, Dark choclate, nougat. Taste: choolate, nougat, pralines, coffee. Full bodied, moderate carbonation, moderate bitterness. Tasty piece.
BBT 03/2022. Dark brown with beige head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, light nuts. Taste Is the same.
C: opaque dark brown
N: coffee, vanilla, roasted malt, chocolate
P: coffee, toffee, fudge, chocolate, vanilla, light oak, mellow and dry finish.
Bottle. Malty aroma and taste, coffee, roasty notes, chocolate, light sweetish notes, medium bitter. Medium to full body, malty coffee bitter sweet finish. Good.
Bottle at Bratislava Beer Tasting 02/2022. Pours dark brown color, beige head. Aroma of dark chocolate, vanilla, cocoa. Taste is sweet, lightly bitter, chocolate, vanilla, cocoa, coffee.
Bottle at home. Pours jet black with a thin beige head. Nose is booze and mainly bourbon, some chocolate, more coffee, some molasses. Taste is chocolate, booze, lots of molasses, light coffee, vague dried fruits. Moderately sweet. Closes with an abrupt finish in which the booze gets more apparent, the body is way too thin for this abv and it shows all the way. Not bad, but way too thin. It's not the first relatively highly rated "classic" US stout that's pretty highly rated here but I found kinda underwhelming... Old Rasputin, Oh! Fudge, Founders' Breakfast Stout and KBS for instance were all far from what I hoped they would be. Oh well.
355ml bottle. Jet black colour with minimally late awakening, average, thick, creamy, moderately lasting and lacing, tan head. BA-supported, dark malty aroma, hints of coffee, notes of Bourbon, vanilla, dark caramel, a touch of oak, a light fruity touch of apple, Calvados, whiffs of peat. Taste is roasty, dark malty, caramel malty, notes of dark caramel, hints of coffee, BA notes of oak, Bourbon, vanilla, weak peaty overtones, alcoholic interludes, minimally tart-ish tannic aspects, some coffee bitterness; warming, alcoholic finish.
Creamy to viscous texture, smooth, soft and silky, minimally cloying palate, fine, soft to flat, creamy carbonation.
BA dominated, rather weak coffee flavours, a bit boozy - pretty decent, but not outstanding in this hard-fought rubric of flavoured Impy Stouts.
Bottle, courtesy of Chris M. Pours black. Whisky, oak, coffee, rich earthy barrel and coffee, liquorice, touch of fruit, slight sweetness. Nice oily body. Good.
WOW thick and smooth with syrup. Black and sweet with Rye and a bit of wood. Acrid clean alcohol that wafts in and out. Easy coffee and some malt. Not a heavy cocoa. Big malt and some Anise in the aroma, less so in the taste.
35.5cl fles. Helder donker bruin kleur, fijne romige bruine schuimkraag. De geur is vanille en chocolade. Smaak is zoet, vanille, whisky en chocolade. Vol body en veel koolzuur.
0,355 litre Bottle, from Systembolaget Charlottenberg. Black with little brown head. Roasted malts, coffee, Chocolate, bourbon, oak, leather, liqorice. Well balanced. Nice
Bottled March 15th 2020.
Pours a pitch black with a healthy head of tan foam that shrinks but never leaves. Nice.
The smell is Bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, brown sugar, coffee in that order. I'm not surprised that the coffee faded some over the year.
The taste is Bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, dark pitted fruit, coffee, brown sugar. Not necessarily in that order as the order seems to change with certain sips. Keeps me guessing and I dig that.
Full bodied with a good amount of carbonation for the high abv. Okay, the body gets a little lighter further into the session but that's alright. Still smooth.
A homerun for Lagunitas with this one.
355 ml bottle (13.1% abv). 2020 vintage.
Pours pitch black color with a large beige head. Strong coffee roast on the nose, dark chocolate and cocoa, bourbon-y vanilla evident too, subtle rye, wooden tones, cocoa, there's some dried fruits on the background as well. Dark chocolaty flavor with espresso notes, mocha, roasted malts, cocoa, some oats, good bitterness, subtle dark ripe fruit tones, burnt sugary finish. Lots of nice flavors on this one with a good balance. Hits several sweet spots for me, superb.
Bottle as Lagunitas Willettized Coffee Stout Aged in Rye Oak Barrels (2020). A very dark brown beer, a head is medium and light brown. Aroma is intensive, coffee, chocolate, strenght of alcohol, some vanilla and barrel. Taste has richness of malts, liquorice, coffee, balanced sweetness, some barrel and vanilla, hint of alcohol. The end is dryer with more barrel. Full bodied, smooth. Powerful, quite nice balanced, even this can't be said an easy drinking.
Chocolate, coffee,bourbon .blended very well.
Great stout!
Ausgezeichnetes Stout, optisch großartig, supercremiger Schaum. In der Nase ist das Rye-Fass deutlich auszumachen Im Trunk erst Kaffee, dann spät hinten wieder das Fass. Gefährlich gut trinkbar.
Bár illatra nagyobb intenzitású, mint ízvilága tekintetében, ez utóbbi állítás mégis csak azok számára bír elfogadható tartalommal, akik egy imperial stout fajsúlyát annak sziruposságában mérik. Való igaz, hogy a desszertsörökhöz szokott ízlelőbimbókat némileg elbizonytalanítja a cukortartalom visszafogott mértéke, kétség sem férhet hozzá, hogy ez a sör nem a gejlsége által válik karakteressé. Illatai kirobbanóan fásak, aromás tölgyes, likőrös kicsengésű alkoholos hangulatúak, melyhez egy kimondottan selymes, krémes szerkezet társul. Teste masszív, bár nem tonnás súlyú, néhol élénknek ható, de összességében sima járású. Kávés, földes, brownie-s jegyei, ízében is sötét tónusai valódi csemegeként szolgálnak a karcosabb darabokért rajongó sörfogyasztók számára, akik közé én nem feltétlenül tartozom, néha azonban fejet kell hajtanom az egyszerűbb vonalvezetésű alapsörök érlelés útján létrejövő nagyszerű jellege előtt.
12 oz. bottle. Pours a medium, well retained beige head, layered foams,over a clear dark brown (SRM 40) body....nose is coffee, chocolate, whiskey, licorice, sweetness...... taste is sweetness, with coffee, chocolate, fruit tones, whiskey, barrel tones, mild hop bitter finish......mouth feel, heavy body, alcohol, moderate carbonation. This is sweet and high alcohol with drinkable character.
12 ounce 2020 vintage, Rye barrel version. Jet black with an enduring film of creamy tan foam. Nose has rye, chocolate, coffee, raisin, caramel and a hint of cherry. Tastes of dark chocolate cake, vanilla icing, rye whiskey and prune. A touch of wooden barrel helps dry out the finish. Medium-heavy mouthfeel and low-mid carbonation. A big dessert beer with a nice balance and well hidden abv.
It's possible to generate a decent and delectable head if WCS is poured straight down the middle. The aroma is an earthy coffee (I'm thinking Sumatra), black licorice, vanilla and alcohol. If there are hops in here, they don't put up much of a fight. And considering that rye whiskey is usually a dry finish, there's surprisingly none of that in WCS's long, sweet, finish. Highly recommended that, it possible, you drink it at a basement temp (about 60F at my house) than refrigerated temp. It's so smooth, almost Kahlua-ish this way. Very grateful for the 12-oz bottles this year as in past years you needed at least a friend or two to help you drain a bomber (or risk a hellacious buzz). Consistently, this is my fav from Lagunitas. 2020 vintage, bottled on Nov. 11, 2020.
Over the top. As such strongly reminded me of World Wide Stout. Motor Oil look and consistency, and a flavor and booze bomb. A bit much for me, I prefer cleaner more focused beers.
Bottle at trailer park Holiday 2020 tasting. Deep mahogany body with tan foam. Nice chocolate fudge, coffee, vanilla whiskey mild boozy aromas. Rich, smooth mouthfeel. Dark chocolate, herbal coffee flavors with dry wood, spicy vanilla whiskey —- warming lightly boozy finish __ tasty campfire sipper
Pours dark with a tan head. Nose full of leather, smoke, chocolate and wood. The chocolate shine from here with lacto....wood, chicory, licorice and a slight rye bite. Cinnamon notes in the finish. Good stuff!
It pours black with a brown head. head retention is very good. It has aromas of chocolate, spicy rye, and bourbon. There are some coffee notes in support with a touch of vanilla and smoke. It has flavors of coffee, chocolate, rye, and bourbon up front. There is some very light smoke and burnt elements with low dark fruits in support. It has a velvety smooth texture to it with a slightly hot kick to it from the alcohol. Overall, a little more bourbon and alcohol than I would have like, but the flavors and the rye make this a good beer.
2019 Version @ 12.4% ABV- Sampled one last year fresh when it came out, as well as one December 2020. Plan is to have one each winter to see how they age up to 3 years. Still pretty boozy after one year. Coffee flavor is mild, and overpowered by chocolate malty notes and strong rye oak barrel. I guess it's a super solid BA imperial for high distro (especially for the price), but hoping for just a little more to be top notch.
Molasses and coffee nose. Black, thin tan head. Molasses, prune, coffee.Full body, easy carbonation.
Black pour. Sweet nose. Thin tan foam. Molasses flavored coffee flavor with barley flavored palate.
2019 bottle, opened and rated early 2020. Murky black body with red-brown highlights; thin to medium deep brown head. Nose of oak, whisky, soy and cocoa; complex, layered, and prickly with boozy heat. Viscous, chewy body with whisky, oak, a soy/umami tanginess, and chocolate. Some sherry-like oxidation. Finishes with a warming punch. Yum yum yum yum yum.