Spirit Creature
Fort George Brewery + Public House

On tap at Taps Beer Reserve today.

The beer pours the expected blackish brown color with good head retention and lacing. That being said, this is a beer that looks like a beer that has undergone considerable barrel aging (in fact, the menu indicates this beer saw 24 months in Elijah Craig barrels). On the nose, I'm getting considerable bourbon, coupled with dark chocolate, light coffee and vanilla. The bourbon is pretty pronounced in this bad boy. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely in this moderately sweet bba impy stout, but there's just more of everything. Also, while the beer is on the sweet side, the bourbon helps to tone down the sweetness a bit. Even so, this is a rich, full bodied, bba impy stout. Mouthfeel is pretty full and smooth, with a long finish. And while you can tell the abv is up there in this impressive beer, it's not hot or tiring on the palate. So drinkability is pretty decent (though obviously this is a sipper).

Impressive effort from the folks at GOW and Ft. George, especially if you enjoy an inordinate amount of bourbon in your impy stout. This is good stuff!

5-ounce pour enjoyed in a small snifter at the original Prime Tap House in Hillsboro, OR. Collaboration with Grains of Wrath (Camas, WA).

Look:
Opaque black-brown with cola-brown highlights at the edges of the glass. No head, just an incomplete ring of dark brown bubbles. No lacing, but nice legs (as you might expect from a beer north of 15% ABV).

Smell:
Bourbon, fruity dark chocolate, and grape jelly. Sweet, but not _just_ sweet. Notes of port wine, almonds, milk chocolate-covered cherries, and an almost savory whiff of caramel.

Taste:
Starts with high-percentage cacao dark chocolate dunked in bourbon. Big alcohol flavor follows, along with a crazy whirlwind of flavors: roasted malt, burnt sugar, white jelly beans, vanilla fondant, cappuccino with a caramel drizzle, roasted strawberries, a hint of campfire smoke. Sweet, but not too sweet. The finish is dark chocolate ganache, creme brulee, frozen blueberries, toasted almonds, and bourbon.

Feel:
Full-bodied, voluptuous, and syrupy with a velvety texture. Just enough carbonation to give each sip a satisfying bite. Some alcohol heat, but far less than expected, given the ABV and the huge bourbon flavor which permeates the beer.

Overall:
February is Stout Month at Fort George, and they make a lot of one-off stouts for their taprooms as well as the Festival of Dark Arts. Some of the one-offs I've sampled over the past year have been way too sweet for me. But not this beast. Yes, it's sweet. But not too sweet. And it's loaded with other flavors which were a joy to pick apart as I savored my 5-ounce pour. Really nice beer.