B/A/Y/S (Black As Your Soul) - Imperial Stout Cognac Barrel Aged
Adroit Theory Brewing Company

 

 

 

 

The beer pours a nice brown head that dissipates very quickly. The beer itself is an opaque black that is difficult and hard to see through. However, the beer has a nice oily and slick texture to that makes it fairly inviting to drink. While it seems a bit browner than most others of the same style, it's definitely still a looker.

The smell is wonderful. It has the sweet milk chocolate notes and roasted notes with a bit of hop bitterness shining through. However, the sweet cognac smell along with a bit of a small alcohol burn cover up the other notes. The smell tends to overall come out as more of a cognac than a stout but the other notes still add a bit of variety.

The taste is absolutely fantastic and the best thing about this beer. The strong sweet cognac note and light alcohol taste are still there but are chastened a little bit; allowing the stout notes to shine a bit more. The chocolate notes definitely come out more and mix very well with the cognac taste, which comes off as a sweeter caramel. There are some light bitter hop notes and roasted malt notes but those get lost in the other notes.

The feel is great. It's a heavy bodied beer but feels much more drinkable because of slick it feels to the tongue. There isn't much carbonation to the beer but a light effervescent coating happens before it disappears.

Overall, a very good beer and a perfect, inexpensive, and easier-to-find option (if you live in the area or Ohio) than that other $25 cognac variant that was release by a national brewery at the same time. This is definitely of the brewery's better beers and worth trying before it disappears. Go for it.