King Of Darkness
Anchorage Brewing Company

375ml bottle from Tavour. Boozy aroma, sweet. Traditional boozy notes are displaced with sweet chocolate and maple. Boozy, burn at the finish. Changes quite a bit as it warms. Give it time.

Pours out completely pitch black darkness.

Nose is oak, roasted malt, and a huge dark fruit profile. It smells a little like Black Currant Preserves. Dark and sweet with a slight hint of tang.

Taste is straight up dark fruit covered in dark chocolate and caramel bourbon sauce. Potent and delicious. Rather sweet. Roasted malt is present but more towards the background. The fruit explodes on the palate, much like on the nose.

Mouthfeel is fullbodied. Heavy on the palate. A little oily. Cloying, not too drying. Suprisingly, it does a good job of covering up the whopping ABV.

Overall this is a killer brew by Anchorage. I love to see these non coconut laden stouts. Drank this while watching NileRed make trithioacetone on New Years Eve night. Cheers toward 2023.

 

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

This smells quite boozy on the nose, with tobacco, smoke, spicy oak, and dark chocolate.

It doesn’t taste quite as boozy as the nose would imply, but it’s still quite an intense beer. The barrel just gives this such warmth, with light smoke, some fresh tobacco, dark chocolate fudge, spice, and strong espresso, with a touch of vanilla and caramel.

This is very thick, but not syrupy, with some booziness spiking on the back end. It’s a slow and enjoyable sipper.

Anchorage has been trending very sweet with their stouts lately, so it’s nice to get a more complex bruiser out of them, too.

 

 

 

 

Look - black and thick with a great tan head and lacing
Smell - metallic blood
Taste - chocolate coconut barrel
Feel - syrup
Overall - just not a fan of that metallic blood smell

 

 

 

Midnight shimmering black with a full finger of brown foam. Big bourbon leading the nose as expected, with big char, earth and leather, with lesser raisin, fig, and a hint of brown sugar. Taste is so heavy on the barrel that the booziness is very warm verging on hot, but the complexity remains with all the other flavors, the dark fruits in particular are very sharp in how they cut the smoky and earthy notes, decent roast emerges. Feel is heavy, thick, boozy, smoky, earthy, and indeed all things dark. I would do 2 things: 1. Age this one for at least a year, I think more nuance will blossom out of it. 2. Once serving, let it warm up! As is in year one it is a massive and rugged stout with great complexity but some tuning would go far to unlocking the potential of the brewer pedigree

The King of Darkness. If any beer is going to be named the king of darkness, it has to be from Anchorage. This stout has a deep connection with Blessed in terms of quality and profile. KoD is just so complete. It has everything wrapped up into one beer: burnt sugar, tangy yeast, bourbon, brown sugar, barrel, etc. The bourbon is almost like it was cooked down to nothing and coats the glass and palette. There is an explosion of umami and brown sugar that takes you into the depths of the abyss. It is an absolute adventure of all things rich and dark. Anchorage holds the title with another unbelievable beer.

375 mL bottle. No adjuncts, so why is this listed as a pastry stout? Inky black. Smells of intense oak, whiskey, bourbon, booze. Tastes of really strong whiskey and oak. Heavy roasted malt. Sweet syrupy flavor in there that seems out of place. Back end is very strong oak and roasted malt, hinting toward soy sauce. Very heavy and very slow to drink. It's got a sharp sweetness that is out of place. Makes it just too sugary.

Tons of fruit and barrel on this. With added warmth the barrel continues to shine, giving notes of charred oak, stewed dark fruit, rich malt, and neat bourbon. Had heard mixed reviews on this, but if poured at the right temperature it’s really complex.

Too sweet

Very very dark appearance with slight light brown head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is s very pleasant prominent bourbon whiskey. Taste is also a very pleasant prominent bourbon whiskey with a thick texture.