For the longest time, I thought that the actual brewery name was Kentucky. Kentucky is so prominently on all of their labels, that it never even occurred to me to look for a brewing company name. I've since gone back and renamed all of my reviews to Lexington. This will really help in the future whenever I'm trying to link back to beers that are only produced by Lexington rather than the entire state of Kentucky. I'm not sure how many breweries there are in the state of Kentucky, but there have to be more than just one. This beer in front of me is from Lexington, and it has been aged for 18 months in bourbon maple syrup barrels. I would like to try bourbon maple syrup, but I'm going to go for this first.
I used my more stylish stout glass this time, as the beer is only in a 12 ounce can. I think this is the first beer I've had from Lexington that has not come in a bottle. I don't know if that's a new thing for them. The beer itself is slightly brown and slightly red underneath all that black. No photons are coming through the center of this beer, and the head barely stays around long enough for me to get a picture. White bubbles are in a very thin line around the rim. The aroma is pretty boozy, but I don't really smell any of the maple. Heck, I'm not even getting any of the stout, and that's kind of a shock. Let's see how it tastes.First sip is staggeringly different than what I thought I was in for. The maple is there for certain, and it is adding a sweet smoothness that almost distracts from the 12% ABV. I say almost, as it does not completely distract. Instead, the alcohol-laden stout struggles to be tasted under the combination of alcohol and maple over top of it. I don't remember if I had a Lexington stout before, and I don't remember what it tasted like. I just had a sip of a beer that purports to be based on one, and I don't know what this stout taste like underneath. Is that good? Is that bad? I leave that for a full gulp.
Tip-in is mild carbonation tingle over sweet maple smoothness and something that tastes almost like cherries and wood. The middle strangely moves carbonation up to the roof of the mouth to sizzle while the syrupy smooth maple, dark roasted malt, and alcohol surge underneath. The finish brings the bourbon out to play as the sweetness from the maple recedes and earth from the stout moves up to take its place.
Bottom Line: An interesting and entertaining beer.
3.25/5