Main Boss
Fair State Brewing Cooperative

On tap:

A - Black pour with a layer of dense, creamy caramel resting on top.

S - Roasty chocolate and toasted coconut aroma with some cream and a little bit of astringency in the nose.

T - Chocolate, molasses, almonds, toasted cocoa, and alcohol. Ends on the sweeter side with a nice hefty layer of lingering chocolate on the palate.

M - Rich, full, and silky on the palate with warming in the back of the throat and light stickiness on the lips.

O - The alcohol is definitely there but not in your face. Rock solid and a nice sipper.

16oz can. Stamp on can bottom appears to be 'FEB/01/21'.
Black colored body. Brown head disappears within a minute of pouring. No lacing.
Aroma is heavy with the alcohol. Nose of coconut, almond, and molasses.
Taste is again heavy with the alcohol. Flavors of dark roasted malts, molasses, coconut, and almond. Aftertaste quickly evaporates.
Medium plus mouth feel. Creamy but chalky texture. Quite sweet overall. Alcohol dries each sip. Quiet carbonation.
Somewhat thick body conveys sweet flavors of coconut and almond, which are soaked with alcohol. Molasses adds to the texture and the brown sweetness.
Alcohol heavy, molasses and coconut sweet, this is a sipping brew with contributing dark chocolate malts. Dessert beer paired with peppered cheese.

I have had this beer lurking in the back of the fridge for several months. Decided it did enough lurking.

Poured from a can into a tulip glass. Dark brown color with brown initial head and decent lacing. The smell is strong and boozy with coconut and chocolate. This follows to the taste. Initially, the taste is overwhelming and ill defined, but it mellows with a bit of waiting. The beer is warming but not comforting. Somehow the beer doesn’t come together as it should.

Drinks like a viscous, well-composed cocktail. Syrupy on the pour, which eventually brings up a full finger of foam from the depths of an aggressive pour. No residual lacing, but legs when swirled. Red licorice, orange, vanilla wafers, honeycomb on the nose--quite indulgent. The flavors on the palate are also fairly sweet, so I wouldn't complain over splitting the pint can with a friend. The coconut and molasses are, in combination, responsible for the vanilla notes on the nose, I think, but are more separable upon sipping. Nothing screams almond from the orgeat syrup, but there's certainly some amaretto notes when you look for them. Excellently smooth and full mouthfeel.

 

can dated 2/2021; today is 4/24/22.
the brew looks average for a stout. a fluffy toasted tan head billows up but holds with low retention and leaves no lacing as it settles to a murky cap with thin defined halo

aroma is sweet, light suggestion of booze, and chocolate flooded by molasses and a dash of cream, with a lowkey herbal hop on the wings

taste is a sucker punch of sweetness with molasses, cream, vanilla, and mostly chocolate hitting immediately. a slight herbal helps tug on the reigns back towards not-so-sweet territory, but it's just a nudge. backing spices show up later as it warms up, and a low yeasty note a minute later. there is a slightly creamy tang to it that suggests coconut, though it's mostly drowned out by chocolate and sugar cane.

the feel is low carbonation and thick bodied. it runs silky smooth though, very soft and manages to not feel syrupy despite the thickness and sweetness. a year in, the booze heat has died and relented to a soft chocolaty sweetness in the aftertaste

overall:
maybe this would have been a solid 4.5'r earlier but that wasn't my experience. this is a 12% brew thats been canned for just over a year, and it's mostly just a super sweet molasses drenched malt bomb at this point, saved by a super silky and comfortable mouthfeel. there are complex notes to be found for sure, but the first can hit me as super simple until it warmed up in the glass. only then were the notes outside of "sweet chocolate molasses" even able to register.
honestly, I could go either way, for or against this brew. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves silky high abv chocolate stouts or someone who has the patience to sit with a single glass for an hour or so, treating this more like a spirit than a brew.

Got in an IP trade with hoptheology. 16 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 2/1/2021. Pours dense opaque black color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense and fluffy tan head with good retention, that reduces to nothing eventually. Minimal lacing, some clinging bubbles and streaming carbonation on the glass. Aromas and flavors of huge milk/dark chocolate, fudge brownie, caramel, molasses, brown sugar/bread, toffee, vanilla, cream; light dark fruit, almond, smoke, coconut, rum, herbal, wood, grass, and yeast earthiness. Light herbal, grassy, roasted bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation and full body; very creamy/silky/velvety malts. Light slickness, sticky hops, and chalky roast. Light increasing bitter dryness, no cloying/acrid flavors. Mild warmth of 12%. Amazing rich malt complexity, and not overly sweet/heavy for the style. The coconut was mostly a background suggestion, though you'd expect it to be the main feature, but that turned out to be a good idea I think. None of the common artificial lotion notes I've seen sometimes. It aged greatly over the year.

 

 

 

 

 

Pour is jet black with a half finger of cinnamon head. Fades quickly
Nose is coconut, chocolate, roasted malt,
Hint of rum?
Taste follows. Sweet Dark chocolate, molasses, coconut, hint of rum, citrus. Fudge, orange, nutty.

16 oz can, dated Feb 01, 2021, into Crane Snifter.
Got myself a 4 pack on a whim (mostly because of a recommendation from a friend).

Thick black pour with a beige and red finger of head that recedes pretty quickly to a ring.

Aroma of super glue, paint, plastic, and drywall, with some coconut and faint fudge. Hmm.

Flavor is pretty good considering the aroma was sort of a hot mess. I get lots of banana split action - fudge, bananas, cherries, coconut, and some plastic or cardboard as if I were eating it out of a boat from Dairy Queen with a red spoon. Hints of cheap marzipan from the candy store and slight almond flour. I see others get some rum, I could maybe see that, it doesn't pop out as much to me but it's probably there somewhere. I'd say it's closer on the melted-butter-cinnamon side of things than rum.

Feel is thick and chewy with some stickiness and soft carbonation. Sticky upper lip. Alcohol burn is pleasant and subdued. Fair State has this way of making their alcohol heat seem like a patch of fur rubbed against your throat. It's slightly massaging, warm, soft, slightly scratchy and almost cough-inducing but it's relaxing too. Unique.

Overall, not their strongest effort and I gotta say that nose is probably the weirdest thing I've ever smelled in an imperial stout, but it sticks the landing, even if the kick-off was goofy. Original price on this was $18.99 for a 4 pack. Not worth that. I got it on sale for $13.99. I'm not weeping too badly. This is an okay to decent imperial stout. You must let this warm to really bring out its full potential.

$13.99 @ Hy-Vee Wine & Spirits

Appearance: Deep brown in color, completely opaque before a light, with a massive, dense, fine-beaded tan head, which is slow to develop, but offers good persistence. Clouds of fat bubbles cling to the glass wall beneath the surface. Thin, fine-beaded lacing adorns the glass wall in an unbroken sheet.

Aroma: Very pronounced vinous alcohol dominates the aroma. Strong notes of molasses, bitter cocoa, and charred malt are also present.

Taste: Opens with a wave of sweet molasses, followed by bitter cocoa, coconut and seemingly, rum. Also present are pronounced of almond, being strongly reminiscent of marzipan. As the taste progresses, shredded coconut dipped in bittersweet chocolate follow. Finishes with a wave of sweet molasses and dark rum, the latter offering a pleasant warmth.

Mouth feel: Exquisitely full and soft, with just a slight hint of carbonation.

Drinkabilty/notes: An interesting and quite over-the-top example, with more character than usually seen in the style, and a touch sweeter than usually expected, but, nonetheless, excellent.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard sixteen-ounce aluminum can, served in a La Fin Du Monde chalice. 1798:05302021