Imperial Yirg Stout
Newstead Brewing Co.

Funny enough: whilst Green Beacon has all to recently been on the wane as a brewer, Newstead, who I’ve never been a big fan of, are on the ascendancy brewing corkers like their Long Story Wheat Strong Ale, and now this [which I consider – spoiler! – their best brew yet]: Imperial Yirg (Bourbon barrel-aged) Imperial Stout. Which also contains my favourite single-origin coffee: Ethiopian Yirgacheffe. So what we have here is my most vaunted of beer styles: a Breakfast beer. Yep, we all know my relationship with Breakfast beers. I love them. Founders Breakfast Stout, Alesmith Speedway Stout, Mikkeller [INSERT: Beer Geek ANYTHING here], Prairie Bomb!, Clown Shoes Barista, Evil Twin Wet Dream… look, what I’m trying to say is that this Imperial Yirg has A LOT of competition. And it totally delivers.

Poured from a 375ml can into a Duvel tulip.

A: Reasonably dense-packed tan head that leaves lace splotches as it goes down, almost-black but not totally opaque deep cola-brown body. Looks pretty ominous, as most Imp-Stouts should. 8/10.

S: I wont lie – this has been sitting in the stash cupboard for months awaiting review, so it’s not going to be a fresh coffee aroma, but there is a definite coffee fragrance to it. That Bourbon has really stepped into the limelight though, big woody/vanilla tones, touch of smoke, dark chocolate, oh yeah: coffee too, but comes across more as an espresso coffee aroma than Yirgacheffe. Unfortunately Yirgacheffe is best fresh [here’s a helpful acronym for that: YIBF]. 8/10.

T: Wow, just wow – this is as close as an Aussie brewer has got to that holy grail of beers: FBS. It’s a bit on the punchy side with the vanilla from the barrel, but the rest is so FBS… it’s like a halfway between FBS and KBS: roasted coffee, dark chocolate, that aforementioned vanilla, woody tones, a bit of a red coffee cherry character, mid to light espresso bitterness and a smooth finish. It’s sweet AF too, but we’ll live with that. That 8.3% ABV is pretty well hidden too. This is a classic Brekky Stout. 9/10.

M: Not as good as Founders on the body, but they are the champions of heavy-bodied beers, mid to heavy bodied, light but very dense carbonation. 9/10.

D: Yep, this is Newstead’s best beer EVAAA! I’m stunned that an Aussie brewer like Newstead can come out of nowhere with a dynamite brew like this. That said I’ve always thought that they’re a better dark beer brewer [their APAs/IPAs are forgettable at best]. Top notch Breakfast Stout right here :) 9/10.

Food match: Soft-boiled eggs on pumpernickel with boiled asparagus and mayo.