Very sweet, very alcoholic. Has a prune / candy quality to it, though it’s not a “thick” flavor. Finished clean. The sweetness might be from the barrel, which was not identified on the menu.

Hits you right up front with smoky peat. Light-medium tartness that lingers on the lips. Very well-balanced despite having flavors that are hard to balance.

Very tart. Stone fruit, some funk as you’d expect from a lambic. Light smoke but it suffers next to the Laphroaig (understandably). Finished earthy and dry from the tea I’d guess, which balances it somewhat, but it’s still quite sour.

Still extremely excellent. Chocolate, toffee, a little bit of fire on the finish, but overall very mellow.

Light plum with a grapefruit finish. Sweet cereal funk.

The sourest beer of the day, unidentifiable fruit, caramel.

Very tart, cranberry, puckery. Unremarkable.

Quite tart, puckery, with a significant amout of funk. Second one that approached blue cheesy flavors. Dry finish.

Dry cherry, caramel, wood. Not tart at all.

Super-dark head and lacing. This was a remarkably redolent of cacao, pungent actually. Sweet and liqueur-like. Reminded me of the Berserker, a beer I haven't had in a very long time.

Kind of flat, blue cheesy funk. Apricot.

It's easy to take this one for granted, but I'm glad I tried it. Just super, super good.

Simplistic, sweet. Not bad, but the finish seemed a bit harsh. Other folks at the table really disliked this one this year though.

Super clean. Blueberry. Quite tart, low funk, clean. Lots of clean beers at this particular instance of Big Wood.

Very caramel apple. It's quite sweet, but very surprisingly, appropriately sweet. Very much recalls apple brandy.

Slightly fruity, sweet stout. Seems to have frighteningly little reason to be here. There's definitely no discernible chili.

Kind of like a sour, carbonated red wine? Didn't seem beer-like at all, although it wasn't bad.

Quite tart, unidentifiably fruity. Very clean.

Very blueberry, quite sweet.

Not much barrel, lots of coffee. Very good, but comparing against a standard stout.

A stronger initial hit of booze. Lingering chili spiciness.

Light prune and caramel, finishes with a candy sweetness. Super-clean.

Just a taste. Lots of coffee, vegetal, a spicy finish. Very weirdly made me think of daikon pickle, which is not as negative a note as it sounds.

Somewhere between blueberry and raspberry, notably floral, no funk. Medium tart, very clean finish.

Probably my second-favorite beer of the day. Smooth, not as sweet as the PNC, still a cacao-forward flavor but with a strong presence of peated whisky that became clearer as the glass warmed up.

Dream come true to get a new release of this, one of the first epic beers I ever tried. Did not disappoint. Smooth chocolate, incredibly smooth finish, medium sweet.

It’s not as complex as I expected this. But I do feel like a god.

… and an even straighter stout. It’s not as sweet as the Kali Ma, but it is on the sweet (cocoa? butter?) side. I had somewhat hoped for at least one beer today to be firmly in the humorless roasty category but looks like I didn’t choose well for that.

Hits the notes that Hubbard’s Cave missed. Sweet coffee with a light bodied stout, no weird, extraneous flavors. Still a bit on the sweet side and no roast to balance it, but positively normal after the past two outliers. Firmly in what I would consider breakfast stout territory.

Undrinkable! Intensely flavored, almost like dry cola syrup. Forward sweet, tacky, more unpleasant than the Hubbard’s Cave, which is saying something.

Lack of checking maltlog bit me here. Not good. Vegetal, weirdly smoky, super sweet. At least it’s not sour to boot, but more on that in a sec.

Thickish as you’d expect from Parabola. Strong mocha, fainter coconut… something of a stronger bitterness than expected to finish.

Definitely more yeasty than the Boon, but the flavor comes through as not much more complex. A tart, slightly medicinal cherry with a noticeable yeasty, dry bitterness.

Good cherry, a little sour, a little musty.

It’s fine. More like a wine cooler or cider; uncomplex, fruity, clean. Juice-like.

Tasty and balanced.

So I kept expecting sour and it just wasn’t there. Which in my younger days I might have thought was good, but this is just too fruity and sweet without that sour to balance.

Super complex after the Boon. Flavor is almost tomatoey or persimmon. Finishes with an appealing and unusual buttery quality.

The more I drink this the more complex it becomes. The port-barrel is niiice.

Smells like bubble gum and it’s hard to get past the candy-like flavor. Flavor profile is more cranberry juice cocktail than beer and certainly not as complex as I’d expect for a kriek.

A tad on a sweet side, but solid

The coriander doesn’t hit you too hard which is a good thing.

Light, subtle barrel notes. Dry character, with Stoup’s customary on-the-edge-of-burnt flavor is nicely tempered by the wood. Barely sour, with a slight uric finish.

CINNAMON, CHILI, Drawing of a skull and crossbones - that's all I have in my notes for this one.

Caramel, fruit, rum, quite tart.

Brett, dry, hoppy, clean. Not fruity at all, lightly tart. Vinous.

Simplistically sweet, a standard barrel-aged stout. Milk chocolate / toffee are the primary flavors.

Coriander and nectarine; blackcurrant. Very, very, very nice flavor.

Super alcoholic. Too sweet. Fruitcake? Ew.

Unlike last time, I really tasted the pineapple this time. I almost wonder if the last beer was mislabeled. Hints of canned pineapple, maraschino cherries. If anything this evokes a Christmas ham.

Nothing exceptional, at least in this company. But tasty. Light, balanced.

Overwhelmingly rummy.

Slightly funky. Juicy. More candy-like than expected, especially given other lambics I've had from this brewery.

Extremely strong lime smell. Sweet, simplistic flavor.

Super smooth, sweet coffee. Highly alcoholic. There's a vegetal, rooty smell and flavor that is a little bit harsh. Ginseng? Tequila? Alex said chicory and I believe it. Once you get past that it's pretty darn tasty.

SO SWEET.

Smoky! Wood smoke. Too sweet and smoky for me. What's bizarre is that it has no resemblance at all to the beer described in the 2015 log.

Appreciate greatly that it's not sweet. Lightly roasty, on the verge of being sour but not quite (hinting at a classic English porter).

Very cognac, alcohol strength and roast is subdued, making this better than the regular '19 BBIS.

Coriander, sharply but not lingeringly tart, almost like pickle juice.

Medium tart, floral, light berry, cereal.

Sweet, smooth, dessert-like, like a chocolate coffee cordial.

Main flavor is chocolate and molasses and vanilla is subtle but gives a candy like overtone. Chili is very subtle but adds some back end heat

Sweetest of the four but very balanced and smooth. A lot of the goodness of the coconut b-bomb but less boozy.

Intense compared to the others but still smooth. More malt more toffee rummy liquor brown sugar

Sooo smooth. Toasty, light coffee, caramel.? Clean not to sweet finish

Berliner weisse-like sharp, sour opening. Clean finish. This was far too late in the lunch to remember clearly.

Chalky, inky, umami flavor. Slightly tart finish, a bit like Worcestershire sauce, which matches my previous experience with Ola Dubh. Woody but not actually very peaty.

Cherry-bourbon notes, very fizzy. Caramel, clean, sweet, but not syrupy. Delicious.

This beer is the closest to a chocolate milkshake I’ve ever had. Nutty, boozy, but smoothed out significantly by nitro, leaving a light sweetness.

“This is a porter, not a stout.” Refreshingly uncomplicated, but also not profound.

Good stout. Vegetal tequila notes dominate.

Like a coconut candy bar in mood, but actually not too sweet. An “Almond Joy” in a beer. Undeniably boozy.

Smells strongly of rum. Mellows out quickly, with lime and ginger subtly mixing to create a harmonious, possibly healing concoction. Yum!

Pours thick and profoundly dark, with a dark tan head. Amazing, smooth, very thick stout. Dark plummy finish. A “refined berserker,” it dissipates cleanly to finish. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Fruity but not fake. Like a strawberry pie. Not tart, just a round, bright flavor.

Just hints of spice, primarily caramel. Super mellow, less booze, more barrel.

Light, smooth, toffee and bourbon. Rooty finish, vaugely like licorice.

Vegetal and molassesy, like chewing on sugar cane.

Boozy opening. Finishes like sweet chocolate candy.

Spicy, bright booze flavor. Not too sweet.

Cherry-caramel, not too sour. Tannic. Really nice, clean finish. Salt on the lips.

Sour, funky, clean caramel.

Not sour. Very nice, fruity. Strawberry is distinct and believable.

WTF 15%???

Nectarine? The flavor dissipates to finish. So smooth. Great.

This is a Flanders brown for sure. Caramel, lightly sour.

Part sweet, caramel, light touch. Lays off the sweetness after a bit. Similar flavor notes to Stickee Monkee.

Caramel, light raisin, not too sweet.

Sweet, plummy, smooth.

Very woody. Dry but not sour. Light whiskey.

Very sour, raspberry. Foamy but not fizzy. Medium funk, sharp forward, sour wheat finish.

Clear wine notes, like a cabernet sauvignon. Caramel. Clean finish.

I don't actually much like raspberry, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised I didn't love this beer. But the real problem was that this was pretty much straight sweet, and on top of a malty Belgian spice profile. No acid that I could really latch onto.

Much less sour than I was expecting, but this clearly a complex, funky beer. Open is not particularly fruity - the opening impression is actually almost watery, or at least spirit - but with clearly complex, funky, cheesy notes. There's a nice rebound to light tartness to finish. A fascinating beer.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Drier chocolate bourbon stout. Less bitter than the Scuttlebutt. Rating is a guess, believe me, I was far in by this point.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Tasty, unusual flavor. Vegetal character.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Tequila at the forefront, blunts the natural sweetness of the base beer with agave vegetal flavors. Finishes clean. Can't decide if this is better or worse than the regular Merkin, but it's certainly fascinating.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Very sour, vinegar-like. Chocolate, faint chili, tobacco - gritty finish, kind of like a Butterfinger (!). At first I was grossed out, then I really liked it, and then I was grossed out again.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Sweet, toffee/date bread flavor. Spice, maybe vanilla? Tasty, but very, very sweet.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Dry, somewhat bitter. Otherwise, very nice. I also have "truuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunk" written down in my notes but I have no idea what that could possibly mean??

2016 Big Wood Festival. Strong grapefruit-berry-sour flavor. cereal-funk finish. Clean and fruity sour.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Cinnamon, sweet, booze. Simplistic flavor which has very little in it to counteract the sweetness.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Young-tasting, strong bourbon flavors. Slightly sour.

2016 Big Wood Festival. Candy-like, subdued spice profile.

Yes, we had a second bottle!

Very sweet

A little too sweet.

A little on the weird side but still somehow smooth.

Dry sweet strong molasses burnt flavors.

A little bit on the sweet side.

Some nice round fruity flavors.

Very woody and smooth.

Very interesting. Fennel and anise flavors.

Nice coffee flavors.

Nice coffee flavors.

Very smooth for a sour. Not too powerful. Nice mustard flavors.

Thanks Chandler!

Really strange smell on this, and I had notes that I lost on what it was like. Some kind of musty cookie - may have just been weird in context? Flavor matched the smell. Will have to try again some day in isolation.

I remember this being really good, but this was a victim of too much good, memory-affecting stuff. Sorry.

Caramel, smooth. Not super distinctive but smooth and good.

Bit of coffee, bit of caramel. I remember this being really good, but this was a victim of too much good, memory-affecting stuff. Sorry.

Tasty, mildly tart saison. The Aquavit lent a character that was vegetal and alcoholic. I honestly don't remember too much more about this.

Sweet, and definitely the most syrupy of the beers tasted at Big Wood today. It's still very good, but a notch down from the generally outstanding selections of the day.

Tart, Flanders-esque sourness with a nice, smooth overall character. Sorry, I was too far gone to be more specific here.

Lots of cocoa. A bit of cherry. Pungent.

Dry raspberry, very clean. Not very beer-like, and surprisingly little funk. This was cleansing, and I liked it a lot.

Like a caramel apple in a glass? That's my overriding impression. Other than the fact that this didn't jibe at all with what I wrote when I had this before.

Thanks, Chandler! Just amazing, super complex beer. Vegetal. Umami. Toffee. Thick. Smooth. All of the single words.

Mildly sour and moderate but not too weird in the funkiness department. This is much less odd than the Saint-Gilloise from last year.

Super smooth finish. Toffee. Slight hints of cherry. But oh, that finish.

Slight smoke, but much less than I would have expected. Really, the Islay influence was subtle. Lots of toffee up front and otherwise the super-refined BBomb experience that you'd expect. Delicious.

It had a Funkey smell that Michael described as the smell of diapers. At free which he beer tastes a lot worse

Boozy enough that you'd be forgiven for thinking this spent time in a whiskey barrel. A thick, woody stout with an anise overtone and plenty of nutty, yeast funk , ending in an almost savory nut finish. Bitterness on the end. Very nice. (6 oz goblet)

Smells a bit funky, like bleach on a diaper pail or something. Tastes better than that, but really, where do you go from there? (just a sip)

A lot less sweet than expected given the Biscotti moniker. Tart cherry flavor doesn't feel fake or tacked on. Very pleasant indeed.

Very strong spiced rhum flavors. The sweetness gets a little bit overwhelming after a few sips though.

A very enjoyable stout with vanilla and subtle tart cherry flavors. Thankfully it was as sweet as the biscotti name lead me to believe.

One of the thickest beer I ever had. Delicious sweet coffee flavors.

A very subtle flavor compared to, say, a Parabola, but cleanse your palate enough and this is a very pleasant, balanced, bourbon stout. Not at all what I expected given its name. (just a sip)

A lot of winners at this year's stout fest! I wish I could tell you in more detail exactly what this tasted like, but my notes are basically: "Loved this. Cherry / tannic qualities really enhance this."

A light, excellently balanced bourbon stout, with just a touch of cherry-like twang from the bourbon barrel, I imagine. It would be easy to drink a lot of this and be very happy.

This was termed "foret organic saison". Sweet and piquant. Interesting with floral spices. Hints of coriander and banana, but much less so than I'd expect from this type of beer. Overall, I find this interesting.

This is a lovely sour, not puckeringly tart, anonymous fruitiness, including in the effervescent nose.

Amazing! I think I prefer the Sticky Monkey though :/

Amazing!

Surprisingly light and smooth for a barrel aged stout.

While I'm glad I got to try it, I can't say I liked the Ardberg's peatiness mixed with the sweetness/bitterner of the beer.

The first thing is you definitely get a faceful of Ardbeg with this beer. It smells exactly like Ardbeg, peaty and smoky and that flavor kicks in strongly at the start. The flavor transitions to a kind of dank vegetal smoky-raw alcohol taste that did sit well at first. Here again, to me, the beer got a lot better as it warmed, but I love peaty Scotches. I do have to say that this was not a popular share with the crowd, either.

Oh man, this was a whole boatload of funk. If it weren't so good, I'd have called it rank. I certainly haven't tried anything else like it before. They say this was dry-hopped with Hallertau. Well, I guess it was just one more part of the funk.

Thick and raw, this may have been aged three years but still has the fire of a young barrel-aged stout. Lots of bourbon, and some dry woodiness as well. (6 oz goblet)

Bourbony barleywine - not complex but smooth and sweet in a good way. I'm not going to dream about this, but it was very nice.

Sweet and pumpkiny. Boozy, I think, but who can tell anymore?

About as textbook example of a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout as you could ask for. This is not idiosyncratic in any way, nor does it have any funky residual barrel flavors. This is... it's Sparta.

I had to sniff it again because I couldn't taste any cinnamon in this. It's there in the nose, but I'll be darned if I could tell the difference between this and regular BBomb as far as pure flavor goes. But BBomb is wonderful in the first place, so this is automatically wonderful as well. (For the record, everyone else assured me they could taste the cinnamon.)

I'm writing notes several days late on this one, so there are details I can't remember. I do remember this being a somewhat spice-forward, standard saison, and I definitely remember being quite disappointed that I didn't detect any wine-like yeast or grape funk in the ale, nor did I sense wood.

I kind of had to try this first, given the description. This beer was very strange. The pinot noir comes right out to start, vinous and dark. The transition to yeast and berry is sudden and not very natural -- I got a lot of puzzled faces after sharing this glass. I remember thinking this felt more black saison than stout, flavor-profile wise. As it warmed the flavors did become more integrated, and I liked it better.

Malty squishy (banana'y) coffee milk smell. Surprisingly sweet finish, fizzy cocoa brew with coffee hints.

This was good but this late in the night, I.don't think I appreciate it. There was a sharp spike of bitter, but a strong portion on malty sweet. It just seems brackish and wrong. But when I had a taste earlier, it was really good.

Great stout. Really nothing more to day. Mainly because I'm d-runk. Right.

Color of candy. Dry and tart, with noticeable gueuze funk to add complexity. Nice to try a decidedly non-sweet fruit lambic.

This is very sweet though not obnoxious like the first nail. But I'm kind of sweeted out, so terhaps you should take this review with a grain of salt.

Another good middle of the road stout though not quite as refined

A super tasty straight stout, malty and deep, without crossing over into the good-but-almost-syrupy intensity of even higher gravity brews like World Wide and Mephistopheles.

When you want the canonical stout

This is all stout. The stout drinkers stout.

Aroma of roasted espresso, with a surprisingly dry, delicious flavor at odds with the other selections here. Pretty much redefines in one swoop what I want out of a coffee stout.

Good, but feels like the younger sibling of Mephistopheles in every way possible. I found out the next day that this claims to be a bourbon-aged stout, but I couldn't for the life of me detect that.

Cinnamon. Like no sweetness olde tymey sarsaparilla.