Kill the Sun - Grand Cru
Ex Novo Brewing

Well unlike the weather, this is nice and dry. I'm getting dark chocolate with low bitterness, charred caramel, nougat, toasted oak, and lots of mellow bourbon. There are hints of other things here as well, slightly burned pretzels, raisins, and vanilla. An immensely satisfying stout overall, thanks Ryan!

Poured from a can at fridge temp. Pours a wonderful black with a half inch of light brown head. The nose is bloody awesome. Chocolate, bourbon, marshmallow, vanilla, toffee, candied sugar, molasses, slight roasted malts, and a nice layer of dark fruit. Slight coffee note comes through as well.

The taste pretty much follows the nose, but there are boozy and roasty notes that I wouldn't have expected from the nose. The bourbon really strikes here, and I love it. Also getting a solid amount of charred wood and roasted chestnuts. Milk chocolate, salted toffee, vanilla cake, marzipan, and plums.

Fantastic stout overall.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a two finger dark khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, dark chocolate, molasses, licorice and whiskey; somewhat boozy. Flavor is dark toasted malt, chocolate, molasses, whiskey, licorice and mild dark stone fruit. A little barrel woodiness in the finish. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess; nice mouth feel. I was a little surprised to see this was "retired" since I only got it earlier this year, then discovered that Ex Novo has ceased as a brewery. Bummer. I liked this Kill the Sun series. This one is rich, flavorful and has good whiskey barrel character. Nice molasses and chocolate notes. I liked this no-adjunct version a lot, even more than most in the series. It's nice to taste the base stout with just some barrel influence. Nicely done. Hopefully, Lazy Days will keep this up each year, even as a straightforward barreled stout.