Vanishing Point 07
Innis & Gunn

 

Copenhagen 24/12 2023. 50 cl bottle in a black box from Meny, Borups Allé, Frb. F. Simple black label with a golden 07 and the name of beer and brewery.

Pours opaque dark brown with a big light beige head. A bit bubbly. Settles as thin, almost transparent layer of foam stretching to cover the surface of the beer. Crawling up the sides of the glass. Moderate lacing.

Aroma is intense with a sweet and lightly roasted odor of dark malts with a scent of whisky and alcohol peeking through. Brown sugar, toffee and caramel. Lightly roasted coffee beans. Butter. Whisky and cola.

Light carbonation. Medium thick, oily, soft, slightly viscous, almost flat texture.

Flavor is medium intense with a medium strong sweetness followed by a light bitterness. Aftertaste is sweet and a bit boozy. Lingers fr a while. Finish is sweet and oily with a touch of alcohol.

Fulfilling with a squirt of whisky.

Bottle: Poured a dark black color stout with a dark brown foamy head with some light retention and some minor lacing notes. Aroma of chocolate notes with light dry bitter notes with some light scotch and port notes. Taste is also a mix of chocolate malt notes with some light dry bitter notes with some light barrel=aged notes of scotch and port with a semi-dry finale. Body is a bit thin for style with good carbonation with no clear discernible alcohol notes. Not bad but barrel-aged notes could have been more pronounced.

 

Vanishing Point 07 - from Innis & Gunn. 16.9 fl oz bottle, purchased from Franklin Beer, Franklin, PA, 30 Jul 2024, $ 18 (Including tax), $ 1.07/ fl oz. Reviewed 04/08/24 (Review 3332). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on shoulder in bright yellow “BBE Jun 2028 L3180 09:13”. On room temperature shelf at store. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Served at 54.6 degrees F in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature 59.5 was degrees F. Box directions are a bit ambiguous; “Best served chilled”.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), clear.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear-lite, same with light penetration at the edges, amber brown.
Head – Average (Maximum 3.2 cm, aggressive center pour), buff, high density, short retention, leaving a 0.5 cm crown and complete cap.
Lacing – Fair. Part of the crown has been dragged down, leaving a 45-degree slope of near-microscopic bubbles, complete with tiny stalactites.
Aroma – 4 – Tends toward cocoa with a ghost of scotch barrel. No hops, no alcohol (11 % ABV, according to the label).
Flavor – 4.5 – Reminiscent of a mild blended scotch with a touch of fruitiness from the port barrels. A bit of cocoa from the malt, no hops, no alcohol. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Faint gastric warming.
Palate – 4 – Medium; creamy; caressing carbonation.
Final Impression and summation: 4.5 The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Very good Imperial stout but at 3x the price of my favorite beer for a 500 mL bottle, I will not be pounding these.

500 mL bottle in a carton purchased at the LCBO; best before Jun 2028 and served barely chilled.

Pours a deep, not-quite-opaque cola brown colour, fitted with a half-inch cap of tight, creamy, light tan-coloured head that dissipates within a couple of minutes. A sudsy cap and collar hold steady, with some lace deposition as the level drops; looks fine to me. Intriguing aroma with plenty of nuance to be found - Scotch whisky stands out amidst hints of milk chocolate, port wine, toffee, grapes, wood, vanilla, apples, blackcurrant and almond, with just a hint of black coffee.

The complexity carries over into the flavour profile, which is rich, warming and rather fruity. I'm getting sweet apples, raisin, milk chocolate and toffee, as well as hints of port wine, pear and orange peel. Whisky, wood and vanilla gain momentum later on, concluding with a moderately boozy finish that features dried dark fruits, port wine and some wood tannin astringency. Medium-full in body, with relatively low carbonation that gently prickles the palate; smooth mouthfeel with some numbing later on in the session. Surprisingly distinct from 06, but at least as good, if not better.

Final Grade: 4.27, an A-. As taxandbeerguy astutely pointed out, this is less "stout-like" than previous entries in this series - that is to say, you don't get a lot of those roasty coffee and dark chocolate flavours that typically come with this style. Instead, the Glenlivet 18y and port casks seem to be dictating the agenda here, making for a predominantly 'fruity' imperial stout that should thrill Speyside whisky fans in particular. Great work from Innis & Gunn - while I am a longtime fan of their lineup, I have criticized them in the past for returning to the oak/vanilla/toffee well too often. VP07 is a delightfully different stout that I highly encourage other BAs to seek out and try for themselves.

L:
-pours the darkest of brown with no light coming through and a medium-to-big,foamy,beige head
S:
-dried fruits,coffee,vanilla,caramel,chocolate,coconut
T:
-dried fruits,light acidity,caramel,toffee,bready,syrupy,chocolate,vanilla,coconut,herbal,lightly roasty
-low bitterniss
F:
-low-to-medium carbonation
-medium-to-full body
-alcohol noticeable
O:
A very good BA Imperial Stout aged in Glenlivet Casks.

500 ml bottle served fairly cold into a tulip. LCBO purchase for $17.75 CDN. Best before June of 2028. In Glenlivet 18yo casks and port casks.

Appearance - Near black with a viscous look and a small crown of tan head. Decent staying power and a nice quarter finger of head sticks around for a while.

Smell - Dark and rich, a little peat but lots of woody and some dark fruit, grape and cherry. Great depth of aroma. Some leather, roasted malt and traces of caramel and marshmallow under the strong veneer.

Taste - Some stout. Roasty bits. Leather., Lots of wood and again more fruity than expected with some grape, pear and dark berries. Complex and mellow as advertised. The intensity isn't quite on par with the nose. Booze is present but quite well disguised. Scotch and port barrels both well integrated with being overbearing.

Mouthfeel - Fairly full bodied with low carbonation. Easy sipper. Again the ABV is well disguised with a mellow finish.

Overall - Very well brewed, but maybe the least stout like of the series. This seems akin to a hybrid of an old ale, imperial stout with multiple barrel aging options in play. Interesting an unique, the nose is pretty special.