Which Bourbon for Bourbon Stout?

[gone_fishing]

Just wanted to get some opinions on what Bourbon to use. I will be brewing a Imperial Bourbon Stout in the coming days. Thoughts?

 

[unionrdr]

I've used French oak with Beam's Black 8 year old bourbon & regular beam's with white oak in dark or stout beers. At this point,I'm thinking white oak chips with Beam's Black would be best.

 

[jdopchibrew]

I've only made two, but both of them were oaked with french cubes soaked in knob creek (first batch) and wood ford reserve (second batch). Both were good, but I found the wood ford to be a little overpowering with the oak. used same proportions, so I would recommend knob creek.

 

[Beer_Eugenics]

What ever Bourbon you like the best.

 

[TNGabe]

You might as well ask what fruit is best to make a pie with! It realy depends on the beer, how much you want to spend on bourbon, if you're going to buy a 750 and drink the rest or want something in a 50ml bottle just for this, etc, etc.

Since two folks have already mentioned using French oak, I'll go ahead and point out that bourbon is aged in American oak barrels. I'd suggest going for any char level depending on how much of that flavor you want, but also boiling the oak for a minute or two before hand to leach out some of the oak flavor. Most bourbon barrels have held liquor anywhere from 4 to 15+ years before they get used for beer, so they won't impart nearly as much wood flavor as new oak cubes potentially can.

 

[cfrazier77]

If you like the bourbon taste over the oak I would suggest Jim Beam Devil's Cut. It is a very strong bourbon flavor. That to me would stand up to new oak better.

 

[Seven]

It's personal preference... I used 1/2 a pint of Maker's Mark in a stout once before and it was excellent. Even with only 1/2 pint the bourbon was very noticeable in the beer.

 

[neovox]

I've used Woodford Reserve with great results, but really, use whatever product you like best.

 

[Diaperload]

My club recently scored a wooden barrel of Bourbon Trace. We put 55 gallons of Belgian triple in it. Turned out fantastic. So my vote is Bourbon Trace.

 

[gone_fishing]

Diaperload, I guess you mean Buffalo Trace.

 

[jrgtr42]

Personally, I don't like to use the really good stuff in beer - to me, the nuances that make it different from the really lousy stuff just get lost in the beer.
I have had good luck using regular Jim Beam in brews.
I have some oak sitting in some now that will go into the cider I have in secondary.
I've made a stout, and several batches of BBA dubbel before, and I have gotten the best rsults using that Jim Beam, over some other bourbons.

 

[Diaperload]

Diaperload, I guess you mean Buffalo Trace.

Correct. I feel silly now. Our barrel is Buffalo Trace.

 

[Layne]

I use Eagle Rare in my Bourbon Vanilla Imperial Porter.

 

[Toga]

If you want a bit smoother profile than what you get with many bourbons take a peek at some of the Canadian whiskeys. I have used black velvet with good results.