Cacao! For Your Lifestyle
Solvang Brewing Company

this blew me away, among my favorite beers i had the whole gabf weekend, surprised this didnt win a medal. its a no frills base imperial stout, roasty and bitter with coffee notes, a sturdy but not overly viscous body, a pretty minimal ferment and on the dry side for the style. they then jazz it up with every kind of cacao product there is i think as various stages of this, butter, powder, nibs, wafers, its all here, and the result is a very organic rich chocolate beer without much sweetness to it at all, its almost oily and slick from the butter element to me, as sort of emulsified decadence, i taste it in every phase, in both an intensity and a purity that i think are rare, this really is incredibly unique, and its not relying on lactose and bourbon barrels and all this stuff to make it good, its good on its own, and i love the use of all this cacao, definitely the most robust i have ever known it to be in a beer, and i like how its straight forward and not obscured by a mess of other adjuncts. its bitter but its also desserty, earthy and fudgy, sticky for a second, dense and cakey even, its a lot in the flavor, but its chocolate in its purest form, amazing. the malt compliments all this real well, there is a rawness to it all that i find appealing, and i get nice tobacco, licorice, and espresso nuance in the mix. cant say enough about this one, it puts solvang on the map for me, and really is one of the more compelling big stouts i have had all year, even if its a relatively small doses thing. super unique flavor in a style where i thought i had experienced it all, bravo!