Arcadia Barrel Aged Imperial Stout

As I said yesterday, I was opening one of my bottles of Arcadia's Barrel Aged Imperial Stout and hoping it would be decent. Turns out it was better than decent though it wasn't so awesome that you should drop everything to go buy it. If you see it on the shelf, though, it's worth splurging for one bottle.

Tons of bourbon in the nose, very present. Started with some vanilla and oak notes but ended up with some harsh bourbon heat. I was hoping that the body didn't follow that last note and luckily it didn't since there is nothing I hate more than beers that are overwhelmed by that flavor. Decent mouthfeel, not super thick like Bourbon County but not too thin either. First sip was pretty complex, lots of vanilla, oak, and chocolate. Finish had some cherry and molasses. As I drank more and got used to the cherry, the molasses sweetness in the finish really came to the front and built on itself. I could use the term treacle again but it's so uncommon I'll avoid it for now. Pretty solid BA Imperial stout and not so sweet that the full glass was difficult to finish. Happy I picked it up. Hope the Barrel Aged Cereal Killer, their barleywine, is this solid since I have one of those too.

Heading up to Weyerbacher tomorrow for their release of Riserva. You'll be able to find it on shelves pretty easily but Jo and I haven't been up there in a while so it'll be a fun trip. I already made cookies for it too.

Arcadia Sky High Rye

Arcadia is a tough brewery for me. They make beers in styles that I like, but I haven't been impressed by anything I've had by them but I still keep buying their stuff. I'm weird like that, I guess. Sky High Rye is a rye beer as expected by the name.

Lemony nose with some light rye spiciness. Nice for a rye beer. Body started with a little sweet caramel followed by some melon like fruitiness and a little citrus. There was some slight breadiness before it finished with some bitterness to clean things up. Well, there's a first time for everything and I actually enjoyed this one even with it being a number of months old. Very solid rye beer and tasty. Probably even better fresh, too.

We'll see if Arcadia can keep up this streak when I try their Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout tonight. I have high hopes considering they spent time waxing a 12oz bottle. Who would do that if the beer wasn't awesome, right? Right?

Arcadia Cereal Killer

This is part of what Arcadia calls their "Vintage Collection" but I'm not 100% sure why. I guess the case I bought was supposedly brewed in 2010 or something. Cereal Killer is a barleywine.

Smelled of caramel, raisins, and alcohol solvency. The latter isn't quite what you want to smell in a strong beer as it's not a great sign of things to come. And, I was right as it started with a sharp alcohol bite up front followed by some caramel and plum-like sweetness. The finish and aftertaste, though, contained even more alcohol unfortunately. Now, the flavor that wasn't the alcohol wasn't too bad at least, but if you easily notice alcohol in beers, probably best to avoid a full glass of this. I'll say it got a bit smoother near the end of the glass. Something to get a sample of to see if the pros outweigh the cons, but I wasn't too impressed by it.