The Summoning
Best of Hands Barrelhouse

Got in NBS BIF from snaotheus. 16 ounce can into tulip glass, canned on 12/14/2021. "sweet D has a fast car" quote on the bottom. Pours dense pitch black color with a 1-2 finger dense dark brown head. Fantastic head retention and dense spotty soapy lacing on the glass. Aromas and flavors of big dark chocolate, cocoa, espresso coffee, roasted nuts, toast, dark bread/crust, molasses, citrus peel/rind, peppercorn, pine, smoke, charcoal, wood, raisin, plum, fig, date, herbal, grass, and yeast/charred earthiness. Moderate pine, citrus rind, woody, spicy, charred bitterness on the finish. Slight English yeast tang. Medium carbonation and fairly full body; very creamy/silky/bready malts, moderate sticky hops, chalky roast, and lingering resin dryness. No cloying/acrid/astringency. Mild warmth of 8% after the finish. This was a great crossover between American and English styles. All English malts by the looks of the grain bill, with nice American balancing bitterness of 51 IBU. The Yeast complexity has a lot of nice dark fruit/molasses notes, but doesn't get overwhelming. Fantastic for the style.

2022-05-30
16oz can served in a footed pilsner glass. Dated 12/14/21. Bought it at the brewery about a month ago.

Pours black with a very slow-forming head that barely builds up past a skin, and slowly settles back down to a thick skin. Smell is tons of dark roast and anise, maybe a hint of molasses.

Taste is very dark chocolate, very dark roast, moderate anise, not-quite-burnt toast, light creamy sweetness.

Mouthfeel is thick but not sticky or chewy. This is a very good straight up imperial stout.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque black in the glass with a half finger milk chocolate head with good retention and nice lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt with mild char, cocoa and light coffee. Flavor is dark toasted malt with moderate char, bakers chocolate, coffee; flavor tapers off in to a finish of day old coffee and an slight hay tartness. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. My second straight arrow stout with no adjuncts or barreling this week and it's surprisingly pleasant to visit these again. The Summoning start really quite nicely, with a laid-back, but sturdy moderate charred malt with some good chocolate and coffee character on the dryish side, close to an export stout profile. The finish is a bit thin revealing a grassy note, which is interesting but a slight bitter tartness that did not fit the rest of the taste for me. I liked the graphics and overall looks of this one and the the main taste is quite good, but the finish didn't work for me. Shows promise and I'll be back for other stout offerings.