I would like to brew one of these now so they can age and be ready to enjoy this fall/winter. What extract kit would people recommend?
Ideally, I would like to eventually brew them both. The Imperial Stout takes 4 months and the Bourbon Barrel Porter takes about 2 months.
Cheers!
Porter. I have brewed neither of these, but I like Bourbon.
I’m with you! 
Bourbon makes me HAPPY
I have done the all grain version of the bourbon porter many times - absolutely love it. The bourbon adds a really smooth sweetness to the beer. Favorite “winter beer.” I would recommend more than 2 months though. I like to give mine 6 months for sure, even longer if you can. I have gotten in the habit of brewing it every february or so for the following fall/winter. If you brew it now, it should be great by fall/winter.
Get on with it, brew them both, you know you want to. 
I certainly want to brew them both but just wanted input on which to brew first. I might start with the Imperial Stout since it takes longer until it is bottled and will brew the
Bourbon Barrel Porter after that.
I brewed the Extract Imperial Stout a few years back and botched it big time. First “Big” beer. Severely underpitched the yeast resulting in sickingly sweet FG. Let it sit forever and didn’t use new yeast for bottling and expected the bottles to carb at 50* in the basement that winter. Worst beer I’ve ever made.
That said all of this was clearly my fault. If you do it do it right. Get enough yeast, control the fermentation temps and give it time.
The NB Imperial Stout recipe is amazing. I did the all grain…and it was perhaps the fastest I even emptied a keg. Everyone who tried it simply loved it.
For the record, i did replace the Cascade hops with Santiam, and the result was delicious. I did that just to not use Cascade once again, and to try a new hop Santiam was perfect for the style.
My buddy and I brewed the Bourbon Porter for our first beer and it turned out AMAZING! I’m buying the Imperial Stout kit next week to brew up for our annual xmas party…gonna fudge the recipe a bit, we’ll see how it turns out.
For those who have brewed the extract bourbon barrel porter, does the 2lbs of wheat malt dried extract come through in the flavor of the finished product?
I am not a fan of wheat beers so seeing that 2lbs of wheat malt dried extract is used, I am a little hesitant to brew this beer. Im guessing, and hoping, the wheat flavor is not noticeable.
Cheers!
