The Stalker In The Snows
Holy Mountain Brewing Company - Interbay Brewery + Taproom

 

2022 vintage; consumed on 6/5/2023

Pours a stark, nearly jet-brown hue capped with a luscious few fingers of fluffy, darker khaki foam; great head retention leaves a paper-thin, spotty few islands of cap, a large, frothy collar, and a haphazard splotching of soapy, webby lacing caked tightly to the walls of the glass.

Aromas of pipe tobacco followed by a touch of smoke are met with notes of raw cacao and rum raisin ice cream, with fresh toffee over the middle easing touches of Concord grape through the back end of the bouquet as a roasty caramel trend proceeds on the close.

Taste offers a smoky char and baked fig upfront, with hints of vanilla soft serve lingering in the backdrop through dark cacao, prickly bourbon barrel and melted toffee over time.

Mouthfeel brings a body on the lighter end of medium, sporting a rounded, prickly air of moderate-high carbonation drying steadily over the mid-palate as flaky textures persist to form a taut back end with a warm, silky flow to the finish.

An demonstrative blend of tempered decadence outweighing wavering, lighter textures for a harmoniously sweet and well-tempered strong ale experience.

This one pours a dark brown, almost black, with a small head, and not much lacing.

This smells like milk chocolate, caramel, roasted malt, dark fruit, vanilla, bourbon, and toffee.

There’s an odd little astringent note on the back end that I feel like comes along most often with much older beers – almost a dustiness to it? Not oxidation, per se, but that sort of dusty and musty flavor you get in older barleywines. It’s an odd grassy note that you don’t really expect in a “newer” barleywine, or stout, or blend of the two. Other than that perplexing note, you get some really nice creamy and rich barrel character – caramel, vanilla, oak, char, and bourbon. There’s chocolate and toffee in big notes as well.

This is medium bodied, with very little booziness, and a nice drinkability.

This is pretty solid, but not quite as good as some of the plain old barrel aged stouts and plain old barrel aged barleywines that I’ve had from Holy Mountain.