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Whiskey flavor in stout

Beer Recipe Design
#1

So as many of you know, I sort of recently brewed an Irish Dark Mocha Stout. This was a 5 gal batch which was a basic stout recipe, but I added 4 oz cocoa nibs, 1/5th of Jameson Caskmates, and 4 cups of pressed Guatemalan dark roast coffee into secondary for 2 weeks.

At first the whiskey flavor was very pronounced and stood out very well, but after a few weeks the whiskey flavor has dropped out and has totally disappeared. One of my friends brewed a similar batch and the same thing happened. Anyone have a clue why this is occurring?

#2

Got nothin huh fellas?

#3

Sorry I didn’t see your post earlier. I just finished pitching the yeast for 5 gallons of Dead Ringer.

The whiskey flavor is probably just more subtle as the stout matures and all the flavors are blending together.

#4

I’m totally guessing here, but I wonder if when you first added the whiskey to the secondary, it “floated” above the beer, and you got a higher concentration? I would think the whole bottle would add lots of flavor, but it does seem like it’s competing with some big flavors. I would think it’s still got plenty of time to mature and blend…

#5

Thanks for the replies! Yeah I’m not sure what’s happening, but I kinda felt like I waisted 35 bucks on Jameson

#6

How about adding it to the bottling bucket and stirring it into the beer before bottling? I’m wondering if the beer was still fermenting some and blew off some of the flavor. I do agree with others though that there are a lot of big flavors going on in this beer.

#7

^This. I’ve had it happen, where the whiskey formed a layer on top of the beer in the carboy. It slowly diffused into the rest of the beer while it sat in the carboy.

No shame in adjusting the flavor in the glass. Little shot of Jameson added to the pint should be delicious! Then you can tailor it to however you’re feeling at the time.

#8

Yeah if I do this again probably gunna put it in the keg when I transfer the beer. I’m just trying something new in the absence of an actual barrel

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