10W-40 - Chai
Hi-Wire Brewing

 

I think the ginger gives it a much fresher taste than I'm used to with stout beers but it is a very good beer , sort of it's own style , don't buy it expecting a traditional stout vibe.

16oz can poured into a snifter

A- pours black in color with a one finger foamy khaki head that reduces to a ring around the glass

S- an array of chai spices on the nose with highlights of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, even a sassafras’s note. Undertones of chocolate, orange zest and roasted barley

T- cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and clove pop out up front, followed by roasted malt, chocolate and char. The finish gives more ginger and cardamom with a chocolaty linger

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a foamy mouthfeel that continues into the finish

When a stout doesn't know what it wants to be, then just throw the kitchen sink at it. Cinnamon, cardamom, black pepper, clove, allspice, chocolate, clove, vanilla and milk sugar is the dosing regimen that Hi-Wire Brewing throws into their latest 10W-40 Imperial Stout. Part Asian, part pumpkin, part holiday spice and all latte, this beer covers all their bases.

Teaming up with the Spicewalla brand, the beer pours devilishly black with a creamy tan froth scooting toward the rim. As a scent of all-things-chai rise to the nose, so do a bold coffee roast, dark chocolate, heavy cream and whisky spice blend. Bold sweetness mingles with cream flavors for a softer latte effect early on the tongue. With hints of molasses, caramel and white chocolate, the malt flavors set a sweeter tone.

A quick rise of those chai-type spices meet the level of sweetness with impressions of Christmas spice, pumpkin spice, sweet cream an an overall potpourri effect on the tongue that extends from the perfumy nature of its scent. Trailing into a spicy bitterness, partly of the peppery nature of spice additions, but also from a heightened whisky-like spice and a woodsy hop bitterness for balance but also a misplaced and unsettled level of bitterness late in taste.

Full bodied, creamy and yet drying, the stout finishes both malty and spice with an evaporative aftertaste of spice accented candles and incense. For an imperial stout, the beer trends dry if not for the sweeter cream flavors that sooth the spice additions. Its simply a tricky beer.