Sequoia
Humble Forager Brewery

Finally cracking this one thanks to work making me miss the stout festival. F all... bomber poured into snifter, beer is, unsurprisingly, cola black. No head here. Strong cola smell on the initial pass. A lot of malt and barrel. The chocolate, coffee, and vanilla scents all start coming through. Definitely a dark fruit note there too. Sort of caramel-cherry candy (or some deeper dark fruit). Similar in taste - it's rather lighter than one would expect. The flavors are sort of buyoant on that gentler body but do not compete for attention at all. Fudgey up front, but also caramel, vanilla, some bitter chocolate/coffee/char reminiscent of leather/tobacco, and also noticeable dark fruit. Chewy, full-bodied, but also smooth. Lacking in carbonation.

 

 

Pours medium black opaque body with a brown head that settles into a collar. This reminds me of vintage bcbs with willet barrel added. The molasses and caramel are intense with amazing barrel depth, with rustic and toasty barrel, semi-sweet chocolate, char, hints of espresso, fudge, and dried date. Smell has the barrels meeting the usual stout trappings of chocolate, caramel and vanila. So smooth, thick and velvet smooth, fuller in body, warm and rich.

Humble Forager Sequoia 29mo BBA Imperial Stout, 14% ABV. Barrels are Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, and Willett rye. Pours thick and black with no head or bubbles evident, and it leaves an oily sheen instead of lacing. Aroma is strong bourbon, plus chocolate, coffee, vanilla and caramel. Taste is strong bourbon throwing shade, plus chocolate, rye spice, coffee, and vanilla, slightly sweet, slightly bitter, moderate bourbon burn, but in a nice way. Decent chewy mouthfeel, though lightly carbonated. Overall outstanding to world-class adjacent.