Barreled Souls Stay Puft

The Stats
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.9%
Current Ratings...
- Untappd: 4.27/5
- Beer Advocate: 4.37/5
- RateBeer: 3.53/5

"An Imperial Stout made with marshmallow Fluff. Chocolate, cotton candy, and vanilla aromatics with flavors of marshmallow and dark chocolate."

So last December, I made an attempt to drive two hours north to Saco, ME for the Barreled Souls Stay Puft release. On a prior trip the year before, I visited the brewery on a Friday night and just casually walked in and saw they had the Barrel Aged version in bottles for purchase. Now, I applied this logic to this past December and figured that I could do the same for a Saturday release. I hypothesized that since the BA version lasted a few days, then the base beer would easily survive a few hours after opening this time around.

As I made the turn off of I-195 and onto U.S. Route 1, I was patting myself on the back for "outsmarting" everyone and getting to the brewery a full 20 minutes early in order to guarantee my allotment. I soon neared my destination and saw that beautiful wooden sign beckoning to me. It was at this moment that my admiration for my own advanced thinking was surpassed only by my utter astonishment at how poorly I had completely underestimated the hype.

Oh yes, packed into a relatively small parking lot fit for most insurance agencies were almost 100 of New England's finest beer enthusiasts waiting to suckle at the marshmallow teet known as Stay Puft and Peanut Butter Stay Puft. I swallowed what was left of my pride, found a spot half taken up by a snow bank, and got in line. Needless to say, I was about still 60ish deep even 20 minutes after opening when they announced the bottles were gone. Still, I got my pours and spent the rest of the day exploring the beer scene in the Pine Tree State.

Due to the unexpected demand, Barreled Souls announced they'd do another release and on a bigger scale. Upon hearing this, you bet your sweet ass I was going to guaran-damn-tee I would be left holding more than just my dick in my hand on this release day. So again, I made the drive one Saturday morning to the brewery and made sure I got there early enough to set myself up for success.

Luckily I was victorious this time around and walked away with this elusive beauty. After all the heartache and hype, what will I think of Stay Puft?

Pours out jet black and has some ruby red hues when held up to the light. A solid finger of dark brown head sits on top like the proverbial cherry on a sundae.

No surprises on the aroma as marshmallow inundates (what's with the $2 words?) my nostrils with a  vanilla and Fluff bomb. A nice helping of dark chocolate syrup and muted graham cracker notes bring the s'mores dream to life. I also get a fruity, cherry flavor too. Maybe this has some Russian Imperial Stout qualities to it, but I can see where the candy aromas are coming from on this one. As it warms, brown sugar, some toasted coconut, wood, and more of those fruity notes (now more strawberry) come to the front of the line. It is a decadent-smelling beer.

The taste is a little muted when compared to the flavors from the aroma, but they all still answer role call during 1st period History...

VOICE IN MY HEAD: You doin' ok?

...The Marshmallow Fluff is clearly the intended star and it has found a cozy spot on each one of my taste buds. There is some booze on the taste and it is a slight tick above "noticeable", but I'll allow it (Mills Lane voice) with a nearly 11% stout. Dark chocolate-covered cherries come at me next and make for a nice, romantic evening in my mouth. Some leftover oak and wood from the aroma pick up near the middle and even some tobacco and char come in for good measure. The back end come in with a refined alcohol taste and some moments of dark fruits, but the alcohol seems a bit too strong for my liking here, especially on the finish.

Mouthfeel is full and fluffy. Again, alcohol presence isn't shy, but I can power past it and forgive all sins. Being a big beer with boozy tendencies makes it a sipper, but the marshmallow and chocolate flavors are able to keep it in the dessert beer category.

Stay Puft has an intoxicating aroma and a flavor profile with solid dessert stout qualities and the alcohol to match. The s'mores experience was faithfully recreated, but I do wish the alcohol was dialed back a bit in order to have the taste match the aroma. Still, it's a dessert stout worthy of an after dinner indulgence.

Rating
8.6/10

Barreled Souls Hillrock Bourbon Barrel Aged Quaker Heavy with Coffee

The Stats
Style: Oatmeal Stout
ABV: 9.9%
Current Ratings...
- Untappd: 4.11/5
- Beer Advocate: N/A
- RateBeer: N/A

"A bigger version of our regular Quaker State with coffee aged for 8 months in a Hillock bourbon barrel."

Black in appearance with some ruby red edges and less than a finger of tan head that fizzled away like soda. It looks like flat Coke.

Strong alcohol scent, but it doesn't burn the nostrils. Bourbon is sweet and very much in your face. Coffee has a dark roast, freshly-brewed aroma with hints of burnt coffee grounds. Touches of vanilla and wood start to come through more as it warms with even some smoke and char.

I say this in the nicest way possible: It tastes like a cigar.

There is an unmistakably smoke and ash component to this beer that is just putting me on Cloud Nine. I am guessing it is the insane amount of char from the barrel which is also lending tobacco notes and the coffee also helps with a roasted flavor. When all those components activate their Wonder Twin powers, it brings a smile to my face. How does the bourbon itself play into this? Like the aroma, it is incredibly sweet, but also smooth without being cloying. As it warms, a molasses flavor emerges for a touch if Old Ale qualities and more dessert-like flavors of milk chocolate and cocoa powder give this an after dinner sensation. Hidden in the back are some solid dark fruit notes of raisins, plums, and figs. Some of that booze comes back, but it's refined and I welcome it in this case to help break up some of the sticky sensation.

Mouthfeel is calm with a velvety texture. It isn't the thickest stout (especially for almost 10%) and can feel too thin at times. The sweeter flavors stick around after each sip, but they don't overstay their welcome. Mild booziness is noticeable, but again, I find it pleasant in this case.

BA Quaker Heavy w/ Coffee impressed me for unexpected reasons. While I wish the body was bigger, the flavors were complex and a pleasant surprise. It promised coffee and bourbon, which it delivered, but those smokey qualities and massive amounts of char will bring me back again and again. I bet these guys could rock a Rauchbier like nobody's business.

Rating
8.8/10

Barreled Souls Munro (Hillrock Bourbon Barrel Aged)

The Stats
Style: Scotch Ale/Wee Heavy
ABV: 9.8%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: N/A
- Untappd: 4.26/5
- RateBeer: N/A

"Scotch ale Aged for 8 months in Hillrock Bourbon barrels"

Oh Barreled Souls. Minimal commercial descriptions, but you make up for it with unique beer. God bless you. 

Appearance is dark brown and red in color kind of liked iced tea. It poured to three fingers of tan head, but it disappeared quickly and sounded like fizzling soda when doing so.

The aroma is very nice with lots of bourbon and a refined alcohol scent that isn't distracting. Cherries, and a strong malt presence come next followed by oak and dark fruits.

The taste is surprisingly tame given the nose and abv. Sweeter notes of toffee and butterscotch are what hit me first. The hefty malt presence from the aroma returns in full force here and adds to the sweetness. Not much in the way of bourbon, but the spirit that is most at play here is a subdued rum-like taste enveloping the dark fruits of raisins and figs. A heaping dose of cherries and flowery potpourri toss their hats into the proverbial ring. The back end has almost a cider or iced tea flavor reminiscent of American Barleywines.

Mouth feel holds some fizzy carbonation, but the body is calm. Impressively there's no alcohol warmth or heat. Just as surprising is how clean this finishes.

This version of Munro definitely hits a lot of the characteristics for the style. A bit more robustness on the flavor would have pushed this into more elite company, but it still remains a terrific BA Scotch Ale.

Rating
8.2/10

Barreled Souls Dark Matter

The Stats
Style: ???????
ABV: 10.2%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 4.3/5
- RateBeer: N/A
- Untappd: 3.94/5

"We are much more certain what Dark Matter is not than we are what it is.” -NASA"

Brewery description is vague at best and depending what site you check, what style this qualifies as is a total mystery. Whatever, let's just dive in head first.

Appearance looks pitch black, but when held up to the light, a glowing ruby red bounces off the glass and onto my fingers. It produced a good three fingers of khaki-colored head.

Quad-like dark fruits burst from the glass on the aroma. Plums, figs, raisins are all here in abundance with some cherries and red wine. Lots of fruit cake and the it takes a turn into banana and clove with even some pine. I've never smelled a beer like this before. It's like crossing a Weizenbock, Doppelbock, and Quad into one.

I didn't know what to expect when going into this mainly due to the brewery keeping even the most basic of information a secret in an attempt to be cute...it worked. Regardless of style, this is one tasty brew.

The initial rush of flavor goes back to the red wine and vinous notes, but I am caught off guard by a pleasant tartness and sour cherry. After that subsides, the fruit cake and raisins make a return. A warming, spicy flavor reminds of spiced rum and then there's some touches of alcohol for good measure. It tastes almost leathery in a way and has some figs and molasses. I think the tart berries can make this refreshing at times, but I am held in check by those deep, dark fruits all throughout the experience.

Despite the look and taste, the body is actually relatively light and finishes dry. The berries and molasses make for some sticky sweetness without being cloying. The abv and warming on each sip make this one a sipper for sure.

Dark Matter may not belong to a specific style, but it is a great beer for sure. If memory serves, then when I had it at the brewery, the description teased that it was a stout, a porter, or something along those lines. I personally didn't get any roasted, coffee, or chocolate notes associated with those styles as I got more of a Belgian experience. I would have pegged this as a Belgian Dark Ale, but that's just me. Whatever you want to call it, this is a unique and complex beer that has been one of the better offerings from Barreled Souls.

Rating
8.8/10

Barreled Souls Stay Puft (Bourbon Barrel Aged)

The Stats
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 11.5%
Current Ratings...
- Beer Advocate: 3.89/5
- RateBeer: N/A

"An Imperial Stout made with roasted marshmallows and graham crackers. Chocolate, cotton candy, and vanilla aromatics with flavors of charred marshmallow and dark chocolate. A collaboration between Barreled Souls and Slab Sicilian Streetfood. Finished for ten months in Woodford Reserve Barrels."

Pours as black as you can get with a finger of brown head. It can get none more black.

Those marshmallows are intense and they fill the room with its melted aroma. It seriously smells like a fresh container of marshmallow Fluff. Graham cracker crust and a big chocolate influence from the stout base make for a mouth-watering dessert aroma. I get some oak and wood from the barrel, but the bourbon itself is incredibly faint. However, the base beer is so decadent, I don't seem to care.

The taste unfortunately has a good amount of alcohol to it, but it's not enough to stop you from completely enjoying the experience. The bourbon itself is bigger on the taste with a big kick of sweetness. Other barrel characters such as oak, wood, and char are subtle, but they are all present and accounted for. Some nice dark chocolate notes continue the dessert theme, but the marshmallow intensity from the aroma doesn't translate over to the taste too well. Those graham crackers are also lacking and the taste is really just the alcohol and sweet bourbon. The back end has some sort of sticky molasses taste which is more reminiscent of English Old Ales especially with those small oak barrel flavors.

Mouthfeel is a little lighter than I want from my BA Stouts, but it is still thick enough to get the job done (not the first time I've said that...rimshot). It has a good amount of carbonation to it which prevents the body from being silky smooth. The alcohol presence stops it from being a truly drinkable dessert beer, but again, it's not so bad that it ruins the fun.

BA Stay Puft had a promising aroma reminiscent of a melted s'more roasting over a roaring campfire, but the taste didn't produce the same experience. I have a feeling the base beer, sans the barrel-aging, is a mind-blowing experience and I think the addition of the alcohol-soaked bourbon all but eliminated the marshmallow and graham crackers. The taste is more like a standard BA stout, but with more pure alcohol taste. I could smell this beer all day long, but the taste and feel leave something to be desired.

Rating
7.6/10