Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition

Picked up a 200ml bottle on impulse when checking out at the ABC the other day. After trying and enjoying the Caskmate IPA Edition this had been on my radar for a while. It was mentioned in another review that there were two different label designs. FWIW, my label looks like the picture featured on this site. *Nose (Glencairn): Unique nose! The Stout is front and center with chocolate, honeycomb, malt, vanilla, wet hay and a floral note. When reviewing the IPA edition, most of my notes were "hints of" or "light". You won't see those much in this review as the notes of this one are bold and heavy. *Neat (Glencairn): Whoah, this is sweet! Like an overly rich dessert. Heavy mouthfeel. Chocolate, honey, mocha coffee, and butterscotch are all present. The Stout barrel really imparts a ton of flavor. It ends with no burn and a bitter beery finish. Bitter dark chocolate and black pepper coat and linger. After a few moments a medicinal note similar to prescription cough syrup began to creep in. Verdict: While I did like this one, it was a little too sweet for me. There is A LOT going on here, and none of it is subtle. I think I might be in the minority here in preferring the IPA version and it's lighter notes, even though I don't really like IPA's and do enjoy the occasional pint of Stout. Go figure...

Pas si mal mais on feel le Burn! Considérant le prix c’est pas pire pr contre !

Even for those like me who find regular Jameson a pleasant if mild libation that simply does the job while being nothing to write home about, this is far too interesting a concoction to pass up trying. And glad I am that I did. The afore mentioned "pleasant" Jameson nose is accented with spicy floral and sweet notes. A very nice start. Up front this is rich(far richer than plain jane James) and the malt mocha and sweet dark sugars jump out, I get just hints of citrus and rose wrapped in bold spice and chocolate, this is not entirely unlike a Black Bush variant minus it's notable cereals. On the backside the butterscotch smoothness kicks in and only a hint of the stout brew cask is left to remind the barley lovers in us that this was actually enhanced in a beer cask and not just over barleyed on the mash side. This is really an enjoyable treat and break from the tradition of plain old Irish and makes the caskmate concept a worthy choice, I find it far superior to the IPA edition and would heartily recommend this for the traditional whiskey bourbon drinkers bucket list. Like the other Jamesons, this one retains the smoothness and lack of heat, making it an incredibly easy straight drinker. A well done one off and great change up for the Jameson lineup.