Shirtless At The Kremlin
Refined Fool Brewing Co.

750 mL corked & caged ceramic bottle purchased at the brewery two and a half years ago and cellared ever since. Maybe the most expensive beer I've ever bought - it's Heaven Hill bourbon barrel-aged, true, but I figure another decent chunk of the price was from its format - an admittedly attractive, sturdy vessel with some real heft to it even when empty.

Pours opaque blackish-brown, generating nearly a finger of bubbly, frothy, dark tan-coloured head that doesn't stick around for long. Within a few minutes, it has been reduced to a thin collar encircling a mostly barren surface; no lacing to speak of, but it looks OK otherwise. It smells of roasted malts, molasses, black licorice, herbal hops, coffee grounds, date fruit and cocoa, with a fair bit of bourbon and ethanol fumes mixed in there.

Big, bold and boozy - I'm getting lots of molasses and caramelized malt sweetness thoughout the sip. Minor notes of cocoa, date, vanilla and black cherry soon give way to earthy, herbal hop bitterness, oak and licorice, as well as a bourbon-y warming quality at the back end. Booze-soaked oak and herbal, vaguely spicy notes linger into the aftertaste - I've frequently heard that big beers mellow out when you keep them in the cellar, so if that's the case, this beer really would've put some hair on your chest when consumed fresh. In all fairness, the booziness doesn't truly assert itself until the finish and into the aftertaste, but it does linger and numb the tongue somewhat. Thick and full-bodied, but borderline flat; the lack of carbonation results in a slick, tongue-coating texture that contributes to the persistence of the aftertaste, because there's nothing to scrub it away. Since I didn't split this with anyone, it looks like this is the only thing I'm drinking tonight.

Final Grade: 3.91, a B+. I've been clearing out the cellar as of late, starting with the stouts, and this is the last big one I had squirrelled away in there. Granted I'm comparing it to some tough competition, but Shirtless at the Kremlin stands out in the crowd mostly because I don't think it does a great job of integrating its alcohol. Now, that's hardly a fatal flaw for a barrel-aged imperial stout, but as someone who is not a huge bourbon fan it rubs me the wrong way nonetheless. The beer itself was serviceable, if not really worth the price of admission IMO... though I suppose the decorative bottle and/or HH BBA treatment could justify it for some folks. I'd consider picking it up again in a cheaper format.