Polar Vortex
Al's of Hampden / Pizza Boy Brewing

According to the description, this is "a 3 year old bourbon barrel of AZAZEL blended with an imperial stout and aged on cinnamon sticks, orange zest, vietnamese coffee, all spice, guajillo peppers, hot peppers and cocoa nibs"

So I was expecting a ton of bourbon and complexity galore. Coffee! Orange! Cocoa! Barrel!

Alas, all I get is some chocolate and a lot of (gentle) pepper spice. Not bad, and mighty drinkable... but a letdown considering all the different ingredients and the barrel-aged base beer.

 

 

 

 

Pours a dark brown color with a half finger of head. Cinnamon is the moat prominent note in the nose along with something subtly sweet. The flavor profile brings more cinnamon paired with chile heat. The combination is heartburn inducing and seriously detracts from the malt bill.

 

On tap at Albany Ale and Oyster in Albany, NY.

This one pours a fairly dark black, with a small head and no lacing.

Smells like coffee, chili peppers, and roasted malt. There's maybe a hint of chocolate on the nose.

There's like a million ''adjuncts'' in this, but I really mostly get coffee and peppers. There's a hint of cinnamon, and the amount of chocolate you'd expect a stout to have anyway. There's a hint of oak, but basically no bourbon at all, which is perplexing. I also do not get the orange zest.

This is medium bodied, fairly chewy, with a lower level of carbonation.

This is definitely tasty but I'm not sure it needs all of the added flavors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pours a pitch black color with two inches of dark tan head and moderate carbonation evident. Chili peppers, big cinnamon kick, gingerbread, dark chocolate, roasted malts, milk chocolate, cream, and coffee. Thick full body and low carbonation.

Overall I loved this; highly recommended.