Hellshire XIII
Oakshire Brewing

Pours a pure onyx black and settles as such in the glass with a sudsy mocha colored head that flees the scene in a nanosecond. Beautiful BA imperial stout.

The nose is led by bourbon, bourbon, and more bourbon, with roasty coffee and roasty malt accompanied by decadent dark chocolate that lingers. Wow.

The bourbon is forward on the taste, big and boozy, but it’s balanced by the roasty coffee and roasty malt flavors, and the decadent dark chocolate positively sings at the back of the palate with the alcohol warming from the barrel. Magnificent.

The mouthfeel is rich and creamy, perfect for this big, brawny beer. World class stuff, IMHO.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a thin dark khaki head that dissipates to almost nothing but a slight lacing ring around the glass. Aroma of dark toasted malt, bourbon, dark stone fruit, cocoa and some light oak. Flavor is dark toasted malt with slight char, lots of bourbon, dark chocolate, dark fruit molasses and barrel oak; boozy bourbon finish with some nice residual chocolate. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess and sharp carbonation. A rich, boozy, very bourbon forward barreled stout. Despite the tame head and quick dissipation, plenty of carbonation on the tongue. Although robust in flavor the huge ABV and bourbon are the main flavor elements. It's good, but in retrospect, I would have sat on this on for a year to let it mellow a bit. Hit the massive barreled stout spot square on; warming and enjoyable.

Very nice head production and retention. Pours thick. Long after the pour, it's still sitting with about 1/8" of dark brown foam.

Huge, boozy, bourbon-y aroma; slightly neutrally effervescent with the alcohol heat. Clearly a big, potent beer. Notes of bourbon, oak, chocolate, vanilla, prune, caramel, toast, honeycomb.

Thick and flavorful on the palate. Restrained amount of sweetness from the malt base and the bourbon barrels, but it's quite roasty as well, straddling the line between RIS and AIS. No quite hiding the booze, but it's not harsh. Tasting notes are similar to the nose, with the alcohol a bit more prominent, cutting through the richness just a bit. Nuts, roast, coffee, chocolate, molasses, honeycomb, oak, bourbon (plenty of it, too), vanilla, cola, toast, caramel.