Year of New Beer: Cherry Chocolate Barreled Black Gold Porter, Country Boy Brewing (Lexington)

Written By: Dion on 02/14/2019

One of the cornerstone beers of the Country Boy story gets a few nice twists for the continuation of the 7th Birthday Celebration. The chocolate is evident immediately on the nose, as is the bourbon. The roasted malts and light coffee of the base Black Gold Porter come through nicely as well. Not getting much cherry, only a touch as the glass comes up in temperature. On the tongue, a slightly sweet, almost milky chocolate blends well with the caramel aspect of the bourbon. A mild cherry comes through along with a bit of plum and prune. The fruit flavors give way to an earthy, charred malt bitterness and notes of oak and alcohol. Would love to see a bit more cherry influence, but then you run the risk of it coming off artificial in a cough syrup kind of way. Overall, very tasty and seems to drink less than its 11%.