I've been slowly yet steadily drinking through the bigger bottles in my basement just because I realized I had too many beers down there. Well, actually, my wife realized it and was making fun of me about it. So yeah. I never really planned on making a cellar, it's just that I drink big bottles slowly. Hence, drinking random things regardless of whether I can get them again or not. So, this past weekend I drank my one bottle of 2010 Victory Dark Intrigue, a bourbon barrel version of their stout Storm King.
Bourbon vanilla nose, actually pretty nice though not very strong. Very thin body. Kind of ridiculously thin but unfortunately the base Storm King is like that. Some light bourbon and vanilla started things off, a little earthy hoppiness, and then some bitterness in the finish. Storm King is very hoppy so the hoppiness is actually toned down quite a bit which was nice.
Not too bad, but I didn't think it was that good either. Basically about average. I've had samples of this before during bottle shares and thought it was below average so at least it was better than I expected. I'll admit I like my bourbon stouts huge and chewy, though, so this already had a knock against it immediately starting off. This was Victory's first attempt at barrel aging so hopefully as they experiment more, they'll get better. I've heard the Barrel Aged Otto was decent so maybe it's just a matter of time. We'll see, I guess.
Ah, the joys of the accidental cellar (I'm in pretty much the same situation). I wonder how much of a difference there is between the Dark Intrigue 2010 and the 2011. I've never had the 2010, but I've really enjoyed the 2011 on multiple occasions. I really like how the bourbon puts the brakes on the hoppy bitterness of Storm King. But then, I'm a total sucker for bourbon barrel aged beers. And I don't think of Storm King or this beer as having a "thin" body... though compared to the likes of Parabola and BCS, I can imagine this feeling tiny.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I don't know the differences though I have a 2011 downstairs too.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the body, I just felt like it had no heft to it. But maybe it is just because the past few stouts I've had were much larger. I haven't had base Storm King in forever since I'm not a huge fan so maybe I just remember it wrong. I feel like Victory was reclassifying it as a Black IPA but I could be incorrect.