The Crows
Reuben's Brews

2024 edition. Deep black-brown, opaque, minimal head. Smell is rich, complex, chocolate and cherries and dark wood. Taste is just so many layers, one flavor giving way to another. Dark fruit, plums, dark chocolate. Thick, almost chewy, slick and lingering on the tongue. A glass of this is outstanding, a bottle may be too much.

Sampling a cellar temp 500 ml bottle that is waxed and capped. Im pouring the beer into a snifter for the evening.
The beer pours a rich cola brown color with no light passing through my glass. A spongey, slightly frothy beige head of 1.5 cm foams up on the pour and rests briefly above the edge of my glass. This foam fades to a thin edge layer soon after I finish pouring the bottle. I get dense creamy clingy lattice on my glass if I swirl or when I take a sip.
The aroma is very bold on this beer and is malt driven. I get toffee and brown sugar and a dose of molassess too. Also hints of anice, some dark fruits, and tobacco and a bit of whiskey. Maybe a little fusol booze here too, but no hop character anywhere. This nose is complex for sure.
First sip of this beer reveals a pretty hearty and thick body with very fine and gentle carbonation and a bit of sticky texture on my lips and palate. Feels the part of a bigger beer as I take each sip and at 15.7% that checks out.
Flavor is malt forward just as the nose advertised. I get toffee, brown sugar, a lot of molassess, faint hit of dark chocolate and a rich dose of bourbon. no hint of any hops at the flavor profile either. The beer is also not warming or peppery bite from the higher ABV. Look out on this one!
A tasty blended beer that leans way more on the barleywine or strong ale category than the impy stout in my opinion.

500 ml bottle into a snifter. A 2022 release, had 5/14/22.

Pours a garnet color, mostly opaque, with no head and no lacing. Aromas of malt, oak, caramel, bourbon, raisins, some vanilla, light char, a little maple when warmed. Flavors of bourbon, vanilla, caramel, oak, some figs, light raisins. Smooth, a very good lighter medium body, appropriately carbonated.

For me, this leans towards a Barleywine, but it does a good job of expressing the characteristics of both styles. Excellent barrels, lots of distinct aromas and flavors, really enjoyable.

 

Opaque blackish brown body, tan head that fades slowly over time with surprising retention. Nose of barley, caramel, bakers chocolate, date, and bourbon. Cocoa dusted caramel and rye leads taste, barley, bourbon, big molasses, raisin, and dark chocolate round out. Silky smooth with very warm booze verging on hot cumulatively. Either a slight move into full richness or drier would take this to new heights, but as is I enjoyed it quite a bit on a cool fall night

Poured into a Reuben's Brew small snifter. sipper. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque in the glass with a thin khaki head that dissipates to sparse patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, bourbon and dark stone fruit; boozy. Flavor is dark toasted malt, dried plums, raisins, dates, light cocoa and a touch of rye tartness and some licorice in the finish; hot. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess. I missed the earlier versions of this called "Stone the Crows", wisely change now to "The Crows" as a kindness to Seattle's dominant bird species. I'm a big fan of Three Ryes Men" and it is definitely the dominant flavor component in this blend. Lots of barleywine style dark fruit and some rye character. The cocoa and malt from the stout is somewhat masked by the barleywine and high ABV. At 15.7, it's got a lot of alcohol in the profile and may have been a candidate for longer aging, but I wanted to taste the stout portion without aging. The result is rich and flavorful and much in line with many other classic American strong ales and this one is worthy company. A rewarding slow sipper. I will get two next year and let one bottle sit, although the other will be gone quickly.