The Brooklyn Brewery was started in 1987 by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter. Hindy used influences from his travels to the Middle East, where he learned to brew in a land where alcohol was forbidden. Brooklyn Black OPS is a very hyped release each time the brewery sends it out, the most recent being in December 2010, with around 1000 cases going produced. The beer is a Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout (a mouthful in both a literal and figurative sense), and is pretty highly rated on BeerAdvocate and RateBeer. A Russian Imperial Stout usually has a pretty high ABV and dates to the 1800′s, when brewers tried to win over the Russian Czar. Called the king of stouts, they normally boast low to moderate levels of carbonation with huge roasted, chocolate and burnt malt flavors and are often dry.
The Bourbon Barrel Aging is what makes this one so interesting. They brew the stout, and age it for, I believe, four months in barrels previously used to age Bourbon. It normally results in a pretty heavy Bourbon taste and smell effect, but also leaves behind some vanilla or woody hints from the actual wood of the barrel. Something it can be overwhelming, and completely hide the beer. However, this is not the case with Brooklyn Black OPS, which is a beer with some hints of Bourbon.
Now to the review. The pour is of absolute darkness, nice brown head stays around for just a little bit. Head doesn’t get any darker than this one. Still trying to properly pin down the smell, which has a slight roastiness, minimal bourbon, almost a sweet woodiness with some hints of alcohol. Really interesting. Roasted malt heaviness up front on the taste, vanilla woodiness to follow. Really amazed at how little the bourbon comes through, it’s more prominent the more I drink it at the end. Very well balanced. Heavy and creamy, and nice bite of carbonation. Really drinkable, tried this one directly after Victory Dark Intrigue, which is another bourbon aged russian imperial stout, Black OPS was the clear winner.
