Night Cap
Lamplighter Brewing Company

2022 vintage, wish i cracked it a little sooner, as there is some oxidation, fade, and thinning happening here, not to mention the maple seems gobbled up now, but its still really good, sturdy and cozy and wintery, bourbon forward without becoming samey, and still with some real palate appeal, but i bet this was better a year ago. very dark brown but not black, heaves up an almost inch of khaki head before it settles back pretty rapidly, not as viscous as anticipated at this abv, and not as heavy on the roast in nose and taste either, its there but there is also room left for layers of molasses and brown sugar, coffee and dark cocoa, tobacco and barrel char, really pleasant dark depth, love the complexity built in, even before vanilla and maple, of which the vanilla is far more prominent early. i get some general sweetness, some hearty oak, and mellow raisin and generic dried fruit, all very cohesive, espresso too, the right amount of good bourbon. the flavor is similar, whiskey all through it, definite vanilla and very well dosed, it weaves in and out of the grain layers nicely, a honey thing to it, the barrel is there right with the spirit. lots of chocolate, milk and dark, in the middle of this, i get some smoke later with the coffee aspect too, and i can tease out a bit more maple as this warms up, nice bitterness to balance the residual sugar on the swallow, and i think the alcohol is surprisingly minimal for how strong this really is, even at temperature. nice beer overall, definitely on the back end of its peak, glad i cracked it now. not too much maple and vanilla, lots of complexity, well integrated barrel, lacking some textural richness at this point, but real well done!

Deep, dark near-black brown color—no passing light. Minor head that settles quickly to rim bubbles and leaves only a spot of two on the glass.

This smells like sweet brown bread. Pumpernickel? Perhaps a cross with unsweetened raisin bread. While attractive, it’s a smell I’ve never associated with a beer before.

Sweeter than expected but I don’t get any of the elements of a milk stout—it’s closer to a barley wine. Despite the 13.4% abv, I get very little alcohol presence outside of the warmth. Rich body with a lower carbonation. Raisin, vanilla and maraschino cherry juice flavors. A great beer for the winter fire.

Pours a dark brown small foamy head with med-lower retention, a fair amount of sticky lacing, long legs, very dark basically black color

Nose brings lots of whiskey barrel up front, barrel spices, vanilla, toasted oak, a bit of general whiskey, dark chocolate, cocoa, roast, cookie dough with baking spices, a touch of fudge cocoa, a bit of caramel

Taste brings dark chocolate, roast, a bit of coffee and cocoa, a bit of fudgey cocoa, baking spices, cookie dough, caramel, a bit of spicy alcohol, into barrel with some whiskey, vanilla barrel, barrel spices and toasted oak, some bitter mild spicy hop, a little nougat, fair sticky sweet finish, a bit of alcohol warmth

Mouth is full bod, rich and a touch velvety, lower carb, fair warming alcohol

Overall pretty nice, good base stout with decent barrel

 

This is the most recent brew. Now 14% ABV, aged in whiskey barrels. Great aroma- strong oak, very rich, smooth MF, some chocolate, and a good bitterness in the finish. 50° is a good tasting temp.

22oz bomber
L: Aggressive pour below average tan head that fades too quickly and little lacing deep black body
S: is rasin sweetness and some barrel
T: tasty follows suit but too much so seems one note and not getting much roast or other notes to balance out the rasin
M average to thin lowish carb
Overall nice beer to sip and enjoy but would not seek out again

The whiskey has a maple nuttiness, but also a peppery heat, with notes of cocoa and almond taking a side seat in this crisply drinkable but warming semi-dry ale.