Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Stout Aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels

Review Date 12/9/2020  By John Staradumsky

  Style: Spiced Ale   Brewery: Guinness   Country: Ireland   State: N/A   $ Per OZ: $.40 (B)   ABV: 11%

Did I get photobombed by a ghost? Kind of looks like it if you peer into my glass of Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout Aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels.  It could be the Ghost of Christmas Past or the Ghost of Christmas Present; I sure hope it’s not the Ghost of Christmas yet to come. That one is really scary.

This is a new release from Guinness’ Open Gate Brewery in Maryland, and I picked up a four pack at Total Wine a little more than a week before Thanksgiving. This is the first Guinness winter seasonal I have bought since Guinness Stout Aged in Bulleit Bourbon Barrels back in 2018.

From the back of the bottle label:

This winter treat was brewed with allspice, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then aged in bourbon barrels. Rich notes of gingerbread with warm notes of bourbon.

Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout Aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels has an alcohol content of 11% by volume and I paid $17.99 a 4-pack for mine at Total Wine. Pricey for four bottles, but still and all an improvement on the $19.99 I paid for the Bulleit aged version a few years ago.

Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout Aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels pours to a deep mahogany color with a thick creamy tan head and a nose of gingerbread cookies soaked in bourbon. Perhaps Gingy just sucked down a bottle of Jim Beam? Taking a sip, the beer is immediately big and boozy with bourbon notes. It’s spicy with ginger and cinnamon, and cookie like with nutty malts. It is not very imperial stout like, perhaps more of an imperial brown ale, but really that helps to impart the gingerbread theme when the pices are juxtaposed against it., The bourbon permeates and the beer is super boozy (have I used that word enough yet?) but never drowns out the gingerbread.

Really enjoyed this beer, and it is a welcome addition to my holiday pantheon of brews. I would love to see it back next year, and I’ll consider it at 5 stars, knocking off a half for the fact I didn’t really find it imperial stoutish, and another half for the high price (for eighteen bucks it should be a six-pack).

Glad I tried it?  T

Would I rebuy it??