Arcadia Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout - Arcadia Brewing Company

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BA SCORE
87
good
-
87 Ratings

rAvg: 3.89
pDev: 12.34%
Reviews: 24
Hads: 63

Ratings Help

Brewed by:
Arcadia Brewing Company

Michigan, United States

Style | ABV
Russian Imperial Stout | 12.00% ABV

Availability: Rotating. bottle (22), on-tap (2).

Notes:
No notes at this time.

View: Beers (34) | Reviews (52) | Events (0)

Reviews

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Reviews by BeerOps:

BeerOps

Illinois

3.5/5 rDev -10%

01-19-2013 20:52:18 | More by BeerOps

More User Reviews:

jakeox

Illinois

4.25/5 rDev +9.3%

05-18-2013 23:52:48 | More by jakeox

GinsuDave

Michigan

4.25/5 rDev +9.3%

05-17-2013 01:04:07 | More by GinsuDave

acc88

Illinois

3.25/5 rDev -16.5%

05-16-2013 07:14:50 | More by acc88

Michigan

3.73/5 rDev -4.1%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5

Pours light, immediately noticing that this beer is not as thick as one would hope. Light colored head, also not that dark brown color you'd like to see for this style. Looks more like an oatmeal stout.

Smell is deep raisin, bourbon and booze.

Big dark fruit/raisin in the flavor matching the nose, as well as a nice sweet vanilla note to compliment the tangy dark fruit, and bourbon. The flavors mesh decently, then disappear as the finish is surprisingly absent of any lingering flavors. Not the depth you'd like to see for this style, but not terrible. Surprisingly drinkable, and at 12% you feel the booze quickly.

The trend continues as absence of depth in the mouth is just simply too light for this for me. Thankfully the carbonation is on point and keeps this drinkable and smooth.

Overall, decent but definitely not worth the $7 I paid for the bottle. I bought 3 of these (ouch) plus 2 BBA Cerial Killers.

Serving type: bottle

05-13-2013 01:20:45 | More by anth0ny

tommyguz

Pennsylvania

3.25/5 rDev -16.5%

05-07-2013 13:32:02 | More by tommyguz

szmnnl99

Michigan

4.25/5 rDev +9.3%

05-05-2013 04:18:26 | More by szmnnl99

outoffocus

Pennsylvania

4.25/5 rDev +9.3%

05-02-2013 02:21:12 | More by outoffocus

gratefulbeerhead

Indiana

4.25/5 rDev +9.3%

04-30-2013 01:53:39 | More by gratefulbeerhead

Lynn

Ohio

4.5/5 rDev +15.7%

04-27-2013 13:27:28 | More by Lynn

breakingbland

Michigan

3.75/5 rDev -3.6%

04-26-2013 17:15:00 | More by breakingbland

zachary80

Indiana

3.14/5 rDev -19.3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3 | feel: 1.25 | overall: 3

Red waxed screw-top bottle, purchased a couple months ago, no visible date or numbering, 7.99 for a 12oz.

Pours near black, a very dark brown, with a light tan head that doesn't fully form. What does form sticks around for a long time and leaves lacing.

Aroma is a little boozy, vanilla, bourbon, light roast.

Flavor has the same barrel character, light roast, vanilla bourbon, but honestly not impressive despite being some of my favorite flavors - they seem hollow. Slightly astringent finish. A little light overall for an imperial, and not enough of the base stout seems to come through.

Mouthfeel is too thin. Carbonation is nearly absent, which is confusing because it had a small but long-lasting head. Some heat which is fine given the style and abv.

Overall - looks good, smells good, but the lack of carbonation ruins an already thin mouthfeel, and the flavors seem lacking.

Serving type: bottle

04-21-2013 03:38:26 | More by zachary80

bobhits

Kentucky

1.65/5 rDev -57.6%
look: 2.5 | smell: 2 | taste: 1.5 | feel: 1 | overall: 1.75

The pour is uneventful, dark brown turning black in the glass, but this awful almost coke like fizzy head with next to no staying power. I'm guessing higher abv on this one.

There's a lot of bourbon a somewhat makers mark dry bourbon with a lot of sugar and sweetness from the malt and perhaps even some sweetness from the yeast or a different hop profile than I was expecting.

I get some coffee notes and some chocolate over tones, but to be honest this is a hot bourbon forward as hell beer. I am now a few sips later getting a pretty strong liquorish/anniss note at the end and some molasses.

Very thin, very watery and noticeably hot.

Try this if you find it, 7-8 bucks for a 12 oz bottle, dipped on wax so the bottle snobs will be ok with the price, but honestly there are 50 better stouts in any store that is going to have this and 45 of them will be less per oz at a minimum.

*edit

Sorry but this beer gets worse with every sip. It is just not a good beer. The mouth feel is just god awful. It is watery as hell which is ok in a lager, but you need a creamy body to deal with the heat the 12% gives off. The yeast or hops that arcadia is using gives the beer an odd sour note (common with a lot of their beers) that doesn't work at all here either. This is bad beer plain and simple. Not just me being picky and score low because it is in a style where the standards are insanely high, but this is bad next to anything.

Serving type: bottle

04-21-2013 01:12:59 | More by bobhits

AlphaKingKegger

Ohio

4.5/5 rDev +15.7%

04-19-2013 05:14:39 | More by AlphaKingKegger

Imacopyouidiot

Illinois

4/5 rDev +2.8%

04-17-2013 22:42:16 | More by Imacopyouidiot

Punqbert

Michigan

3.5/5 rDev -10%

04-17-2013 01:39:02 | More by Punqbert

skaboom420

Pennsylvania

4/5 rDev +2.8%

04-13-2013 00:17:05 | More by skaboom420

stooge

Michigan

4.28/5 rDev +10%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.25

A- Brownish black with a nice head immediately after pour. No lacing, settled out quickly.

S- Very pleasant to the nose, aromas of malt and boozy bourbon prominently featured

T- Bourbon stands tall, perhaps a bit hot, but I prefer my barrel aged stouts to be on the boozy side. Dark roasted malt, oak and vanilla tones, with a nice lingering coffee finish on the back end.

M- Superb mouthfeel, this brew is lighter than expected, but it is well balanced and has the perfect amount of carbonation for the style.

O- Similar to BCBS, but not nearly as complex, with less body; well balanced and perfect mouthfeel. Probably a bit on the boozy side for many BA's, but personally this is right up my alley and I really enjoyed it. Wish I could find a few more bottles, thankful for the two that I scored.

Serving type: bottle

04-12-2013 05:00:25 | More by stooge