Santa's Little Helper
Big thanks to Jw347 for this one. 2008 vintage. Pours a pitch black impenetrable dark death with a nice tan head that takes a vigorous pour to form, but retains well and leaves good lacing once built. Nose is pretty heavy on chocolate and roasted malt. A bit of grain, and some very slight coffee. Hmmm! A very nice imperial stout! Early signals are full of chocolate. Roasted malt starts to rise after that, and continues to do so throughout. Towards the finish, some slight coffee bean comes out, but the roasted malt is what really begins to take over. On the finish there is a combination of factors attributing to a nice bitterness, those being roasted malt, coffee bean like bitterness, and a medium hop presence. Mouthfeel is pretty much right where it should be. A nice chewy, viscous beer, not soupy, but definitely full bodied. Carbonation is right where it should be, despite having to raise the bottle quite high on the pour to produce a nice head. Drinkability is pretty good for the style, and about what you would expect for the abv. Overall a very fine imperial stout. An excellent example of the style without getting too crazy. I love how all the factors you look for in an imperial stout kind of contribute during different parts of the ride across the palate. Really much better than i expected. I would love to see how this one is with even a little bit more age on it. Could go for a year or two more i'd say. A very nice imperial stout.