Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter

Review Date 11/10/2020 By John Staradumsky

  Style: Spiced   Brewery: Alltech   Country: USA   State: Kentucky   $ Per OZ: $.29 (B)   ABV: 8.2%

So this just happened. My daughter and her boyfriend stopped by, and they brought me beer. I had beer for them, too, so it was really kind of a family beer trade, but they had actually been at Total Wine and started sending me pictures of beer. “Want this one?” my daughter would ask. “How about this one?” Chris would ask. One that I definitely wanted to try and that they had already decided they were buying was Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter.

Kentucky’s Alltech makes a number of beers in their Kentucky Bourbon Barrel line, and I have enjoyed all the ones I’ve tried. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter is their holiday offering, and this is the first time I have tried it. It won’t be the last. I love peppermint, and for those that do, what’s not to love about a big holiday candy cane of a beer?

From the website:

Warm up this season with a special release of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter. With just the right amount of chocolate and peppermint, this bourbon barrel aged porter is the perfect complement to a warm fire. Notes of bourbon and toffee complement the roasted malts in this brew, and the result is a peppermint patty cocktail in your glass.

Ingredients from the website:

Hops: Centennial & 2 Row Pale Ale

Malts: Dark Munich, Crystal 80L, Chocolate, and Carapils malts.

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter has an alcohol content of 8.2% by volume with 16 IBUs. Total Wine sells it for $13.99 a 4-pack. You can call this an imperial porter if you like, but the peppermint is so pervasive here I’d say this is a spiced ale. Compare this beer to Jekyll Redneck Christmas Stout.

Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Peppermint Porter pours to a jet-black color with a thick fluffy tan head and a nose full of candy cane peppermint and roast. Taking a sip, the beer is medium in body and permeated with peppermint oil aroma and flavor. There’s chocolate pudding, too, and woody oak. A hint of bourbon pokes through, I think more as the finish approaches, and the beer finishes warm with booze.

This is very nice, especially if you like peppermint, and I do. May well be the best beer I’ve had from them yet, I would peg it at 5 stars but will take a half star back for the high price for a 4-pack.