Heavy Forge: Pancakes in Paradise
AleSmith Brewing Company

Taster at Brown Beard. Black pour, ring of beige head. Light maple aroma, sweet, roasty. Taste is sweet and warm,very boozy, roasty, chocolate and more maple.

enormous and mental, huge barrel aged stout with maple syrup, macadamia nuts, and vanilla, diabetic and desserty, but so delicious in small doses, i dont even find it all that alcoholic which is crazy for its strength, just sweet as the dickens. thick and leggy and robust looking in the glass, cool to have this on tap in idaho! the nose is roasty as heck, tons of dark specialty malt in this i assume, and it has to be real long boiled, its so intense and concentrated to me, brown sugar and then the obvious heavy handed maple syrup addition, to me also some coffee, cigar, barrel char, and good whiskey notes, but also an almost brandy sort of sweetness, lots to like here, suggestions of coconut, rum, and the natural vanilla bean character really rises up too, adding an almost delicate soft floral feminine vibe to this otherwise beastly brew. the macadamia nuts are more prominent in both the flavor and the mouthfeel than they are in the aroma, oily and slick and earthy and kind of buttery, giving more richness to an already decadent drink. massive dark chocolate notes, a sort of cocktail vibe of sorts too with the maple and the whiskey, spice to it to me late, some bitterness from the roast, lingering vanilla and as it warms it gets heavier and sweeter. nobody can probably drink very much of this, but its no less impressive because of that fact, and a little goes a long way in a good way. maple for days on the palate, warming alcohol, burnt oak, milk chocolate, some light oxidation coming in too though, like maybe its not that fresh or like the barrel should have been topped up, but i like everything about this when taken as a whole. alesmith has long been a king of the crazy strong barrel aged stuff and its cool to see them still dominating this space after all these years. proceed with caution with this one!