Deafening Silence
Moonraker Brewing Co.

 

Review: 2481
Name: Deafening Silence
Brewer: Moonraker Brewing
Location: Auburn, CA
Style: Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
ABV: 13%
Canned: Unknown
Date: 26 August 2025
Digging in my cellar, I opted for Deafening Silence. I know this beer has been hibernating in the basement for at least four years. I am using a tulip glass and serving at 46 degrees. The pour created a dark tan head with fair retention. The quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The inky black beverage has dark, reddish-brown mahogany hues, is opaque, and has an SRM of 36. The overall appearance is average for this stout.
Nosing the beer, I detect notes of chocolate, coffee, orange, herbal notes, oak, bourbon, vanilla, earthiness, leather, tobacco, and dark roasted malts. Smelling the glass again, I notice caramel, molasses, raisins, light char, dark roasted malts, and a faint note of floral.
Sipping the beer, I immediately get a heavy dose of chocolate, with a blast of orange. Then I taste molasses, caramel, light char, bourbon, vanilla, tobacco, leather, faint floral notes, dark toasted malts, and a lovely medium-roasted coffee. A few more swigs, I notice, malty sweetness, raisins, dates, earthiness, and a bit of Maillard.
The mouthfeel is chewy, finishing warm. The body is heavy and has low carbonation.
Final Thought: As I sit here with the beer, I want to like it; it has all the wonderful things in it: oranges, bourbon, vanilla, and an imperial stout. With a heavy sigh, I do not. The beer comes across as clunky and unbalanced. The orange mixes with the chocolate, much like those cheap Christmas oranges. The body has a lovely chew, but that is about the best of it. The barrel is too much, or not in balance with the entire beer. It definitely has my deafening silence as to why a beer with a chance is not so good.

03/21/25 bottle @ home

Very nice stout, but could have done without the orange zest. I love experimentation and trying something different, but fruity and stout just doesn't make sense to me.

Pours a pitch black color with a small foamy head. No retention and minimal lacing. Aroma of cocoa nibs, mild vanilla, some orange and mild bourbon. Taste of chocolate syrup with bourbon and mild vanilla. Very smooth, heavy bodied and mild carbonation.

 

 

 

18 August 2020 - Beer #167

Price: $21.99 at Final Gravity in Roseville, CA

Appearance: 5 - blacky black black with a small mocha head.

Nose: 5 - OMG is this decadent. The orange was making me very nervous; I don't like fruity stouts, but the orange and barrel are blended beautifully giving it a coconutty aroma. Wow!

Taste: 4 - not quite as amazing as the nose. The orange definitely stands out, and I still get a lot of coconut, which is an impressive effect. It's just a bit too much orange for me.

Mouth: 5 - super dense and chewy. I'm almost choking.

Overall: 5 - a brilliantly crafted stout. I wonder if they make one without orange.

Cheers!

Deep space black, virtually no head. Smell has a orange liqueur sentiment with chocolate, vanilla, and warm bourbon wrapping it up into a dreamy truffle. Taste is equally as decadent, orange really comes through in a sweet but pure way, what BCBS midnight orange dreamt it could be. Feel is lighter, though lush, sweet, and warm, a touch more viscosity here would go a long way. Very nice execution of the vision!

 

A: The beer is jet black in color. It poured with a short dark tan head that quickly died down, leaving a narrow collar of off white bubbles around the edge of the glass.
S: Light to moderate aromas of orange zest are present in the nose along with notes of bourbon and vanilla beans.
T: The taste follows the smell and has stronger flavors of orange zest along with notes of cocoa nibs and bourbon along with hints of vanilla beans.
M: It feels medium- to full-bodied and smooth on the palate with a moderate amount of carbonation.
O: With all of the orange zest in this stout, the beer almost seemed minty-like, but made for an interesting change of pace and also did a very good job at hiding any traces of alcohol from the taste.

Serving type: bottle

L: Very pitch black stout.
S: Strong bourbon flavor with a hint of vanilla.
T: The usual rush of stout flavor into a bourbon peak with vanilla then orange finish. Very elegant and refined for a stout. No syrup flavor either.
F: An orange candy dipped in vanilla and placed in a dark chocolate candy.
O:: An odd stout combining the usual suspects with orange zest.

 

Easily one of the best stouts I've ever had. The orange zest is there but not overpowering. Gets better as it warms up. Get your hands on a bottle if you can!

Really interesting and good; smells and tastes like chocolate oranges which is pretty cool and easy to drink. Would definitely recommend checking this one out.

Nice dark color. The smell is sweet bourbon and chocolate. The taste is chocolate forward. The finish is orange and bourbon. All the flavors are very well balanced. Possibly the best flavored stout I’ve tried.

Sweet, dark fudge/chocolate, hint of orange vanilla aromatics on this one! Taste follows with a, heavy on the palate, orange-chocolate finish...very, very smooth with a hint of bourbon booziness. Really good!

jumped on this cuz their last choclate stout was soooo gooooodddd....... i think i got 6 or 8 of them..... letting this one warm up on a cold bitter SoCal day.... smells like cinnamon and orange with a little bit of chocolate. and tastes like those orange-chocolates i used to get from mom when i was a kid. at 13%, this is quite pleasant! very refreshing. super easy going down. and delicious! as it warms, the flavors run in to the warmer aromas and this is becomng amazing on the nose and palate, just like those choclate orange candies i mentioned from years ago.... i would so willingly give this almost all 5s except i'm getting stingy in my older years....