Blunt edges

The bourbon barrel wagon trundled through Ballymahon and the Wide Street crew jumped aboard. A 14.5% ABV imperial stout, aged ten months in bourbon barrels, is out of keeping for the wild-fermentation specialists, but they've been expanding the repertoire lately, so why not?

Presenting, then, Liquid Swords, in a 75cl bottle with a €20 price sticker on top. It's a rather flat chap, not bothering to form a head and with only the faintest of carbonic vibrations in the mouth. Nor is it a sticky monster, mind, being light bodied, low in heat and, dare I say, easy to drink. Bourbon's sweet vanilla is quite absent from the picture. It tastes matured all right, but not of anything in particular that it's been matured in. Instead I get quite a savoury umami impression, in the anchovies-and-shiitake vein.

Given a moment or two to warm up, the underlying stout makes a bit of an effort, bringing some dark chocolate and light-roast coffee. That's pretty much as complex as it gets, however.

Clearly this has been designed, and priced, for the special-occasion market. Anyone new to big barrel-aged stout and apprehensive about what it brings may find themselves enjoying how accessible it is. I couldn't shake the feeling that it's rather bland given the specs. I don't want a sickly bourbon bomb but I do want more substance and more character than this displays. Perhaps releasing it fresh would have been the better move.