Blackstrap Imperial Stout
Dubtown Brewing Company

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. 2022 bottle from the brewery refrigerator Huge gusher (to be fair, I was warned when I bought it that it was heavily carbonated "bottle conditioned"). I opened it over the sink, but was not quite prepared when about half the bottle was gone in about 3 seconds. I managed to get a little less than half into a glass which still had a huge head. When it calmed down, it had an nice, persistent one finger khaki head with solid lacing. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass. Aroma of dark toasted malt, dark molasses, bakers chocolate and light bourbon. Flavor is dark toasted malt with light char, molasses, bakers chocolate, coffee and mild bourbon. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess and sharp carbonation. A gusher from a stout bottle is rarely a good sign, but I knew ahead and hoped for the best. And this year old stout is quite nice, with good malt smokiness, coffee, molasses and chocolate notes. The barrel influence is light, but noticeable and well integrated into the flavor. It was a still a bit overcarbonated in the glass, but not nearly as active as the pour promised and actually satisfactory. I'm impressed at this barrel effort from a somewhat young brewery and liked the flavor so much that I will look forward to the next appearance. If they get the exuberant bottle conditioning under control, this is a winner. Glad I got it.