Lykov
River's Edge Brewing Co

6800th review! 22 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled on 3/1/2018. Pours pitch black color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy tan head with solid retention, that reduces to a ring of lace that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, rum, peat smoke, leather, tobacco, nuttiness, toasted oak, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, plum, fig, red grape, cherry, citrus zest, herbal, floral, and yeast/roast/oaky earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt and spirit barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, rum, peat smoke, leather, tobacco, nuttiness, toasted oak, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, plum, fig, red grape, cherry, citrus zest, herbal, floral, and yeast/roast/oaky earthiness. Light herbal/roast/char bitterness and spirit/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, vanilla, toffee, bourbon, rum, peat smoke, leather, tobacco, nuttiness, toasted oak, dark/brown bread, light licorice/dark fruit, herbal, floral, and yeast/roast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and spirit barrel flavors; with an awesome roasted bitter/sweet and spirit/oak spiciness balance; with zero cloying/acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/roast bitterness and oak spiciness. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/bready, and lightly sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is great. Mildly increasing warmth of 11.9%, with zero barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is an awesome barrel aged imperial stout! All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and spirit barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the big ABV. Very rich malt complexity, with awesome barrel integration. Never overly bitter, tannic, or drying. Most barrel prominence with the Scotch, followed by rum/bourbon; with the brandy in the back. A really enjoyable offering.

Not a good review word wise but, a very good barrel aged Imperial stout. Not sure how they aged it in four barrels, whiskey, scotch, bourbon and rum, but a very mild, dangerously mild for an 11.9 ABV stout. We brought a prowler home for another taste.