Barrel Aged (Pear Brandy) Stout
Imprint Beer Company

you know what you definitely need at midnight after a day of beer drinking and adult level wine consumption? a barrel aged imperial stout with grilled pears in it, straight to the dome with the boys. what a life. this is special stuff, easily the least gimmicky and most grown up beer ive had from these guys, by miles and miles, never had one quite like this, big rich black base, pear brandy barrels for a long time, not a ton of bubbles here but they arent needed, plenty of viscosity, nice and slow pace to this, just fine by me. insane nose, truly, reminds me of good eau de vie, feminine but strong, slight perfume from the pear brandy, pure fruit, the caramelized grilled fruit, char notes meet dark barley, oak and vanilla, subtle winter or mulling spice, neat grain composition, mature stout, but verdant with all the natural pear, high saturation but not forced, not diabetic but also not fermented out at the expense of the nice fruit character, really compelling. the flavor is just as good, with strong dark chocolate and light smoke from the base stout, wood and vanilla all through it, honey, toffee, nut brittle, and espresso too as it warms, all before the fruit. lovely green pear skin, unmistakable and enough of it to come all the way through this colossus. light perfume or potpourri, vanilla, green grape and strong woody white wine, some alcohol coming through, the cooked part of the fruit is there, grill marks, soft and supple, huge but somehow not aggressive, amazingly pear forward for what it is, appreciably unique and special. the jury was still out for me on these guys a little bit after some weird ones, trying too hard to me, but this changes everything. any brewery that could produce something this unique and wonderful has my respect, absurd liquid, will never forget this...

This is special. Bartlett pears, grilled, honey…never too sweet.