Saint Arnold Bishop Barrel No. 1:
Howdy partners and welcome to a special edition of today’s beer review.  Today we look at a the new limited release that was released only to restaurant and bars and has become a sick, twisted, and ultimately fun search for those of us in the distribution range.  Today’s beer comes from the brew crew down at Saint Arnold in Houston and is the first entry in their new Bishop’s Barrel series.  The beer, a Russian Imperial Stout, goes into a used Woodford Reserve bourbon barrel and ages in the warehouse for over 10 months gaining nearly 3% ABV over it’s original ABV.  The beer pours a black midnight color with a slight head that quickly moves to a few random bubbles and a nose of bourbon and chocolate.  The beer’s initial taste is very similar to a really good stout with a smooth clean boozy flavor that is very quickly taken over by the same flavors that dominate the nose and it seems to develop a thicker consistency and begins to coat the mouth in a slight  “bourbon served neat” sense.  The beer has a very whiskey like after taste with bit of semi-sweet chocolate that takes the edge off but the higher alcohol content is really noticeable at this point in your sip (and yes, like any good bourbon stout, this is a sipping beer).  So another home run from the guys at Saint Arnold and seeing what they have coming down the pike for the next entry in Bishop Barrel, I think they might be onto something here.