Hell's Half Acre
Jackson Street Brewing

there seem to be quite a few variants of this thing, the one i had (and really liked) was barrel aged with vanilla, maple, and coffee. i think perhaps all of the variants are barrel aged, and maybe even with coffee and maple too, but i think the vanilla is a special edition, along with some others out there such as a blueberry pancake edition (i need that!). this is a killer beer, this vanilla, maple, and coffee variant. slick near black from the tap with an obvious viscosity and a really powerful nose of dark roasty malts, good espresso, sweet high end maple syrup, and the vanilla, which to me here is more of a fresh vanilla bean thing, natural and intense, not a concentrate or anything, gorgeous all together. the maple is way out in front when i taste this, pretty instantly caught up to by the dark and milk chocolate elements from the base beer, which is sort of blurry at this size between stout and porter, not sure how one would differentiate here, sweet and earthy and melted sort of tasting to me. the vanilla is amazing with both elements and is really quite strong, a little bit at the expense of the coffee and exacerbated even more by the bourbon character here, much more sweet whiskey and vanilla than oak or barrel char here, but mature and well mellowed at the same time. this is crazy sugary, but when you have so much maple syrup, vanilla, bourbon, alcohol, and chocolaty malts, thats really not surprising, and i had no trouble with a small pour of this beer. a nice combination of flavors, nicely done with the adjuncts, and even though i think we do lose a little of the base beers identity to all these added elements, its still a hit. i hope to get to try some other variations of this beauty next time i am back in iowa!