Fayston Maple Imperial Stout - Whisky Barrel-Aged - Coffee
Lawson's Finest Liquids

Bottle courtesy of '25 BIF @roguer, no date that I can see.

Pours pitch black with no head. I tried to coax one but the ring of off-white bubbles was the best she could muster and pouring, I initially thought still. Nose is maple, char, dark chocolate, trace vanilla. Wowza, talk about a balance of flavors... dark chocolate, coffee, maple are all very equal to one another. The barrel characteristics, oak, char, whiskey are there but act as anchors allowing the others to shine. As it warms, a nutty note comes out, either almond or walnut. Mouthfeel is low-to-moderately carbonated, somewhat silky. Finish brings out more of the barrel with char and oak mixing with dark chocolate. This is in such balance with each addition doing what it's supposed to instead of overpowering. 12.75% ABV is well-hidden.

 

16.9 oz bottle

Pours pitch black with a small creamy tan khaki colored foam head. Smells like bold fresh roasted coffee with notes of chocolate, caramel, rich maple syrup, toffee, dark roasted malts, a hint of vanilla, oaky whiskey barrel, toasted graham cracker, and mild earthy hops to balance. Tastes like bold fresh roasted espresso coffee, dark chocolate, caramel, rich amber maple syrup, notes of toffee, vanilla, oaky whiskey barrel, toasted graham cracker, dark roasted malt, with mild earthy hops. Feels medium plus bodied, thick, creamy with smooth moderate carbonation. Overall a real great whiskey barrel aged imperial stout with maple syrup and coffee added.

**
08/01/24

Bottle to snifter. Hall of fame game. Football is back.


Jet black, thick, small tan head with continued lacing.

Coffee, roasted barley, touch of wood.

Brown sugar, wood, coffee, whiskey, maple.

Thick and sticky. Full body.


Very good. Different. Not a typical sweet stout.....Maple is subtle and in some ways that is good, but also this lacks next level flavor.


**
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Very delicious! Perfect amount of sweetness, not overly sweet either. Strong maple syrup flavor with a medium body. Overall well done and would buy again.

 

 

2024-01-21
500ml bottle served in a snulip. If there's a date, I don't see it. @Braunmeister_1943 sent it to me.

Pours black, thick, small head that emerges slowly, tiny carbonation bubbles creeping up the side of the glass. Smell is Vietnamese coffee, dark chocolate bitterness, sweetness that I recognize as maple because it says maple on the label.

Taste is way more bitter than I was expecting. Tons of coffee bitterness, burnt cocoa notes and char, a little vanilla, and maple really just sneaking around the borders. Sweetness is there, kind of slipping in the backdoor. Booze is noticeable, but not dominant.

Mouthfeel is thick, alcohol heat is more noticeable in the feeling than in the flavor. Not still -- just a bit of life in the texture. Silky. This is very good.

 

 

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and a little bit of lacing.

This smells like vanilla, caramel, nutty coffee, milk chocolate, earthy maple, and roasted malt.

I still really enjoy all these beers, and I certainly enjoy how much easier they are to track down now. There’s a subtle but tasty barrel character, folding some caramel and spice into the coffee and maple notes. The maple is earthy, and not really too sweet, more just adding a silky velvety note to the stout. There’s chocolate and roast as well.

This is medium bodied, not boozy at all, with a great drinkability.

The interplay of everything going on here was done really well – there’s a lot here – coffee, maple, stout, barrel, and it’s all well represented and deftly balanced.

Poured from the 500 ml bottle into the test glass.
A - Dark chocolate color, gently carbonated, consistant mocha ring resides through the experience.
S - Coffee forward, with a bit of nutmeg, cinammon all related to the coffee, not adjuncts. Black pepper, dark chocolate.
T - Espresso, a bit of vanilla, roast malt, as the offering warms a bit of the whiskey thread comes through. That element has less nuance, just a nice whiskey snap you can dig out of the coffee.
M - Medium in body, texture is dry from start to finish, again think espresso palate experience. Again delightfully dry finish, with a solid coffee burp! Smooths out with a small temp increase
O - A very good stout, certainly coffee forward. With some time and rise in temperature the offering rounds out a bit.

Wow, the coffee really comes through on the nose - stronger even than the maple syrup and whiskey. It's frankly a little too strong, although obviously that's what they were going for. It does still smell fantastic, I just wasn't anticipating so much coffee.

The coffee really comes through on the palate just as strong. The maple syrup is still present, but the whiskey is mostly lost in the shuffle. Similarly, any dark rich notes from the stout base are a bit lost; this beer is mostly about the coffee, secondly about the maple syrup, and anything else in a distant third.

A bit slick on the palate. It's neither thick nor super lively, although there is plenty of back-end bite.

This is a solid beer, and if you're looking for a coffee-forward take on Fayston, this certainly delivers. For me, I'd prefer much more balance across the board: more from the stout base, more from the whiskey, and just a touch more from the maple syrup.

absolutely unreal

Upon opening and when on the colder side it’s extremely coffee forward - the aroma fairly bursts from the bottle and coffee dominates on the palate. As the beer opens up and comes to temp whiskey notes become more prominent. There’s an undercurrent of maple that also emerges over time. Carbonation smoothes out and the middleweight body relaxes and fills out well, too. A roasty bitterness emerges in the finish.

This is one of the starker examples of a beer changing over time and temperature fluctuation in recent memory - highly instructive, in fact. Whatever the case, it’s very good, and very much as advertised. This is an intensely coffee forward stout, and it would be interesting to see how this drinks in 3, 6, 12 months or more. Drink now if you want the full coffee experience.