Ten FIDY - Bourbon Barrel-Aged - Chocolate Hazelnut Praline
Oskar Blues Grill & Brew

 

 

 

 

 

This one pours a fairly dark black color, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like burly roasted malt, nutty chocolate fudge, licorice, hazelnut, spicy oak, coffee, and slight booze.

This doesn't follow the usual script for pastry stouts, as the base beer is still quite visible, adding a heavy roasted bitterness. The hazelnut fights to add sweetness against that roast, and does fairly well. The praline comes through well, adding a light nuttiness that plays against the heavy chocolate tones well. The oak adds a dusty and spicy bitterness, and the bourbon adds some light boozy heat.

This is thick and chewy, with a slight boozy heat on the finish. This makes the beer a bit of a sipper, as it's quite big and quite intense.

Ten FIDY is a good base to experiment on, and this variant works pretty well for me.