Double Crossroader
Idle Hands Craft Ales

16 oz. can dated 02/05/25

Pours dark black with a dense creamy tan brown foam head. Smells dark and roasty with notes of oak bourbon barrel, licorice, dark chocolate, creamy coffee, brown sugar, caramel, molasses, toffee, toasted bready roasted malts, slight pretzel, smores, subtle cherry, banana, dark fruits, dried fruit, and mild earthy hops. Tastes like rich oaky bourbon barrels, creamy marshmallow vanilla, coconut caramel swirl, brown sugar, caffe latte, dark chocolate, licorice, molasses, toffee, toasted bready roasted malts, slight pretzel, smores, subtle cherry, banana, dried fruit and dark fruit notes, with mild earthy grassy hops. Feels medium plus bodied, thick, soft and fluffy with smooth moderate low carbonation. Overall a real nice barrel aged imperial stout.

Appearance: Pours fudge brown and capped by a thin beige head that fades to a ringlet and film; leggy and leaves a stream of spotty foam

Smell: Coconut fudge, espresso and charred oak with a hint of vanilla

Taste: The coffee and charred oak tones loom large here with chocolate flavors complementing; hints of coconut and vanilla appear; some sweetness builds, after the swallow, but the charred flavors dominate

Mouthfeel: Full bodied with low to moderate carbonation

Overall: The charred oak is just a little too overwhelming here but the flavors grew on me as the stout warmed

 

 

 

Just spent a few hours at the Idle Hands taproom and was sad to be informed that they didn't have this baby on tap when I was getting my flight. Not a huge deal, as their intense variety of modern ales and lager still presented me with a tough choice in order to narrow my choices down to four beers (and a full pint of another afterwards, to boot), but the opportunity to get a four pack of 16 oz cans of this for the weirdly-low price of $22 had me extremely excited. An oak-aged maple infused stout clocking in at an insanely high 13.3% ABV, Dbl Crossroader is a definite treat. Let's get right into it!!

Pours a super dark and intimidating tar black color with a thick and terrifying head of brownish-khaki foam. Though this head recedes to the edges rather quickly, it retains its legs quite well, leaving some solid lace as it slowly moves toward the outer vicinity of my glass. Damn, this is a terrifying looking beer. Sure, the head isn't as dark as some other heavier stouts I've had, but maybe that's a sign of things to come... is this a deceptive ruiner of the palate or a smooth talker that does its work in the shadows? Not sure... let's go further!

The nose is straight stiff maple syrup with the tannins and oak aspects I think of when it comes to the actual maple tree itself. Super evocative of Winter... very warming, seasonally-apropos and all that. Roasty and a little coffee-like with some chocolate malty notes and nutty aspects coming across as well. There's pretty much the entire range of "imperial stout" stuff going on here, but with the addition of some more intense maple and leafy notes you don't typically see. I'm into it!

Flavor is fudgy and dense with a mid-palate that leans roasty and dense. Maybe some of the most maple-forward beer I've ever had with some intense sugary and tannic notes in the mid palate combined with a nice dry finish. As I noted from the nose, this is also quite nutty and complex when it comes to the grain bill. I get some earthy spice and chewy wheat notes with a good bit of ethanol heat as well. This just kicks ass honestly.

The feel is very dense and intense with chewy malt notes melding with strong chocolate-y flavors, maple sugar and nutty graininess at every turn. Low-medium carbonation with an excellent heavy palate feel. Man, this is intense and wonderful. I'm so happy I picked up a four-pack of it! I wonder how it'll do with age, too... it's great now, but I wonder how the maple syrup component and the oak aging will interact and potentially disrupt each other. Very cool beer.