Brontes (variant with Vanilla)
Czig Meister Brewing Company

I purchased this 18 dollar 750 ml bottle during my visit to the brewery, where I had the opportunity to sample a wide array of beers including a handful of barrel aged offerings. I'd say this is in keeping with what I experienced that day - mostly good, but not quite complete in one way or another.

This was an enjoyable beer for the most part but grew a little tiresome by the end of 12 ounces. The issue for me was something slightly off in each aspect of the beer - visually it's a little thin, inky but without much head or lacing, and a slightly fizzy look. The mouthfeel is also a little thin and still, lacking the fullness and coating character anticipated in a stout of this magnitude. Aroma is modest and muted and carries an oxidized sherry note with vanilla riding close behind. Flavorwise it's very much the same - I get sherry or port notes above all else, with a fairly strong vanilla note as the secondary player, tasting more like extract than anything else (although it's conditioned on vanilla beans). What I don't get is Bourbon or oak, nor the standard flavor characteristics of an imperial stout such as roastiness or char, coffee, bittersweet chocolate and so forth.

That sounds like a lot of criticism and I think this beer warrants that but again I did mostly enjoy it. I like sherry and port so that flavor didn't bother me but I'd much prefer it in a barleywine or a bigger bodied sweeter Stout that might counterbalance it and not simply succumb. Interesting drink to be sure, though, and not the standard fare.