Wood Series: Hawaiian Style
Sunriver Brewing Company

 

Look: Dark brown on the pour with a brown head that settles down to a film

Aroma: Bourbon, coconut, alcohol heat, dark chocolate, light toffee, wafts of vanilla, and bready malt

Taste: Whoa. Dark cocoa and coconut combine forces to come together like a Mounds candy bar in beer form and hit hard out of the gate, soon followed by some bourbon. Ethanol swirls around as the chocolate and coconut are joined by layers of bready malt and vanilla, along with some toffee. Closes with cocoa, bourbon, and alcohol heat

Mouthfeel: Full, smooth, lightly boozy, medium carbonation, and smooth on the finish

Overall: This is a delicious barrel-aged Imperial Stout. Well-made, deep in flavor and has a lot going on without any one flavor overpowering or clashing with one another. A treat to try and thanks to my dad for grabbing and saving a bottle to try

SUNRIVER BREWERY – WOOD SERIES HAWAII IMPERIAL STOUT
I HAD A SMALL GLASS OF THIS AT THE Sunriver brewery. Some people like to experience big strong items like shooting a 44-mag handgun while other want to experience the biggest beer possible and for those this is your brew. This stout is made in bourbon barrels with lots of toasted grains, chocolate, macadamia nuts and lactose. The big stout flavor is a bit over overwhelmed by the alcohol level of 14.5 ABV . The nutty chocolate and cream and vanilla over tones blend in well. While I think a wine glass amount would be best for me it is rated well getting a silver award at North American Beer competition. You should try if available.

truly fabulous beer here, thanks to an old friend for sharing, everything about this is dope, easily my favorite beer from these guys to date. it is done with macadamia nuts, which do so much for it, but there is a lot else happening too, lactose, toasted coconut, and cocoa nibs too, wow. my number one favorite thing about this is the texture, the oily almost greasy macadamia nut makes this sort of slick, raw and umami and earthy and organic and healthful, its somehow massive in alcohol content, but it doesnt drink like that, i think the creamy almost nut milk character of the macadamia makes it easy somehow, love it coating every corner of the palate in a beer thats not even all that viscous for how strong it is. the cocoa adds needed bitterness against the lactose, a little brownie or fudge thing, as almost always, i wouldnt have added the lactose myself, not sure why everyone feels the need to do that, annoying, but it doesnt ruin this like it ruins so many, because the macadamia is so pure and authentic. the coconut is obviously toasted, subervient in flavor to the nut, and long and smoothed out, a little oily in its own right, fully cohesive and complimentary, a touch sweet too, but not out of place, and this feels loosely hawaiian style, they really nailed it. smooth in body and slick, not even all that full which is cool, and it drinks closer to 10% abv than 14% abv, crazy its so strong. the bourbon barrel treatment is cool, woody more than whiskey, and its a unifying element without taking over, light vanilla, char and charcoal, and mellow smoothness, a hint of smoke, epic. really sensational stuff, lucky to have been a part! a whole new side of sunriver for me, intriguing!

 

500ml (or so) bottle split into snifters; pours out dark brown and sits opaque black in the glass, not the darkest of stouts, with a somewhat-fizzy dark khaki head. I definitely get the chocolate notes in the nose and palate. Smooth, nutty toasted sweetness showcases that milky chocolate and coconut flesh. Light bourbon booze does bite, with a mellow caramel and vanilla presence as well. Bordering on decadent at times, definitely fudgy at times too. There is a nice dark fruity character that comes through on the nose, reminiscent of chocolate-covered cherries. Generous, smooth carbonation throughout, with a slick coating mouthfeel in a medium-to-full body (14% abv??? thats crazy. Doesn't feel that big). Overall this is a win for Sunriver, but I feel like they could dial it in even more in future years if this becomes a regular seasonal offering.

The beer pours a blackish brown color with light lacing and decent head retention. The beer is pretty viscous looking, and has the appearance of a beer that has seen some pretty significant barrel aging (which according to the label, it has). So this beer certainly looks impressive enough. The nose is exotic and complex, though I'm not sure how well all the elements come together. In any event, I'm picking up butter toffee, coconut, considerable macadamia nuts, dark chocolate, vanilla and some underlying bourbon. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely in this fairly sweet beer, but is dominated by the dark chocolate and macadamia not components. I personally like chocolate dipped macadamia nuts, but the flavor just doesn't seem to blend in all that well with the base beer. It's still pretty good, don't get me wrong, but it's not mind blowing. Mouthfeel is fairly full, with a long, sweet, slightly boozy finish. Alcohol is pretty well integrated into the flavor profile, though you can tell the abv. is up there a bit.

Got to give Sunriver an A for trying, but I'm not sure I would label this beer a huge success. On other hand, if you're a big fan of macadamia nuts, then this beer might be just your jam. For me, I thought this a good, solid BA stout that I likely won't revisit any time soon.