Tempus Project - Heavy Lord
Beavertown Brewery

 

a pretty ridiculous, and i have to assume rare, bottle of ale here, graciously shared by a good friend before an excellent concert, what a life! this i guess has some dark lord blended into a big stout beavertown makes, and is aged in bourbon barrels. its enormous, black as night from the bottle, syrup textured, and about as viscous and intimidating as beer can look, close to dead still after a minute. some long long legs on the edges of the glass each time i twirl it, just colossal. the aroma is huge, fills all the air in the immediate area, sweet molasses, campfire smoke, green coffee, maple, permanent marker, barrel char, vanilla, black tea, licorice, wet pipe tobacco, and cocoa. its rich as can be when i taste it, boozy sure, but i also get high end cigar, toffee, burnt coffee, sweet bourbon, bitter roast, campfire, dark chocolate, organic material like soil or something, and just a hint of a soy type umami thing as well, its not so much layered as all at once, with some cinnamon, vanilla, and syrupy black malt are strong, and the booze, along with all the residual sugar and insane body makes this a slow sipper and a small doses only kind of drink. it warms up amazingly well, and i like this better than i remember liking dark lord when i had it. very robust, literally as flavorful as beer can be, but not just a messy kitchen sink thing either. its all over my teeth and tongue, and i taste it forever. really impressive actually, i feel lucky and spoiled to have been able to partake in this one!

Bottle Date: 5 December (presumably of 2017)
Palate Contaminants: other beer

Super dark brown. It's in a teku, and it doesn't take much to obscure what's below the bottom of the glass. Light amount of fine head.

Heavy black licorice on the nose. Lots of burnt sugar, along with a bit of cola nut. Lightly sweet cherries and figs. It does need to warm up to volatilize adequately.

The anise is still there, but this thing is heavy on sugar. It's honey and desiccated fruit (cherries, apples, prunes, etc.) in character. It's not overwhelming, though, kind of like baklava is super sweet, but not so heavy that you choke. It also has a lot of charred barrel, but the other flavors are so heavy that they can actually compete. It actually helps comprehend all that's going on if one sips it like a $1000 bottle of cognac. And again, let it warm up.

To cram everything in there that's there is a feat. Very fine carbonation. Aftertaste has desiccated pit fruit and smokiness that's there in the taste. Alcohol is very well hidden for a fourteener. And again, the weight is explicated right on the label: "Heavy." I made the mistake of taking large sips at first, but back it out, and it's not so overwhelming.

I had to bring this back 3,700 miles, and I wish I'd got another one.

 

375 ml bottle into snifter

Pours oily and thick with dark tan fine head
Sweetness, malts and dark Ash notes on the nose
Palate more of the same with a nice drying finish to balance the big sticky sweetness. Not much of the adjunt, but still delicious. The vanilla and Coco nibs are backup dancers not the main event here, which I love
Feel is perfect. Spot on

Overall a lovely lovely beer.

Insanely viscous and dark – the only thing that really gives this away as beer rather than tamarin is a thin mocha foam (which doesn't last very long). Heady aroma of tar, dark chocolate, black malt, liquorice, soy sauce, black cherries, and toasted coconut. Ticks all the imperial stout boxes in a big, big way. Flavour is more bourbon-forward than I'd expected from the nose, with distinct clove-like spice notes and a bit of vanilla hidden behind a blackout curtain of treacle, coffee, burnt marshmallows, and maple. The 14% alcohol is devilishly well hidden, carbonation is soft and smooth, and there's a real 'stick your lips together' viscosity that doesn't fuck around. Not much more I could hope for in an imperial stout, really.

 

 

 

 

On cask at Beavertown Extravaganza. Aroma has wood, coffee, dark malts and savory notes like umami. Taste is rich with savory notes, umami, heavy on the roasted malts, some dark fruits and dusty wood.