Father Of All Tsunamis
Pelican Brewing Company

Pours a deep, garnet-hued color, more brown in the light; near-opaque mahogany tones in the glass; dense, thick, long-lasting head, khaki hued; a rolling, creamy cap on top. Nice aroma; cocoa and caramel; vanilla; rye sweetness poking through; subliminal dark chocolate; boozy notes with raw oak. Medium-heavy body; a bit hot; mildly sticky.

Well, at two years or so of age, this is still a nice beer. Would younger have been more intense? Would age mellow some of the more intense aspects out a bit? I'll likely never know. As it is, while seemingly a bit thin in the mouthfeel and just a tad too intense on the boozy-side of the flavor, I still like this one quite a bit.

ABV: 11.2%; pouring temperature: 45.5 °F; bottling info: 2023
Source: Tavour

 

Received a 2023 500 ml bottle from @muchloveforhops 2-16-24. Consumed 7-26-25.

Beer poured black with a nice tan head.

Nose is very nice as i am getting deeply roasted malts that give a hint of dark cocoa and some coffee beans. From the barrels i am getting some wood.

Taste is near perfection for the RIS style. The heavy roasted malt base gives me 70% dark cocoa and espresso beans i remember getting from Trader Joes back in the day. The barrels bring a lot of wood and a very faint trace of vanilla. Finish is heavily hopped eliminating all sweetness.

Mouthfeel is good, medium bodied and smooth but not super viscous like many high gravity brews are.

Overall, a super RIS example! Thanks for the opportunity to try Doug!

Review: 2444
Name: Father of All Tsunamis
Brewery: Pelican Brewing
Location: Pacific City, OR
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 12%
Canned: 2020
Date: 02 July 2025
Last beer of the night, I went deep into the cellar since I was supposed to be clearing it out. I use a tulip glass and serve at 50 degrees. Prying the cap off, a lovely hiss emitted, giving it signs of life, considering it was bottled five years ago. The pour created a creamy, foamy, two-fingered, light tan head with so-so retention. The somewhat quick dissipation left no lacing on the glass. The color is dark brown, nearly black, with an SRM of 34, and opaque.
My first whiff of the beer reveals whiskey, rye, char, wood, and notes. Nosing the glass again, I detect notes of dark chocolate, dark-roasted coffee, leather, tobacco, vanilla, caramel, toffee, raisins, anise, floral notes, light pine resin, and a subtle Maillard aroma.
The first sip of the Rye Whiskey does not hold back; spicy rye, whiskey, char, light orange, and caramel flavors ooze throughout this beer. Sipping the beverage again, I taste vanilla, caramel, toffee, raisins, anise, floral esters, pine resins, a skosh of Maillard, dark chocolate, espresso, leather, earthiness, date, cherries, and a faint note of tobacco.
The mouthfeel is somewhat bitter, finishing warm and dry. The body is heavy and has low carbonation.
Final Thought: The Father of All Tsunamis is a bold beer with heavier barrel aging, yet the base stout is just as daring, creating balance and harmony. Russian Imperial Stouts are my favorite style, and this one did not disappoint. The only issue I have with the beer is that I would have liked a thicker body to help carry the flavors further. I enjoyed the slight chewiness in the mouthfeel with these styles of beers.

Vintage: 2023

A - Pitch black pour with super dense, creamy caramel colored lacing that sticks to the sides of the glass with nice viscosity.

S - Nice chocolate char with notes of toffee and some nicely bended oak barrel Whiskey.

T - Chocolate char, Whiskey, oak, toffee, spicey, a slight trace of vanilla on the back side, and ends with a lingering spicey oak chocolate char and some Whiskey alcohol presence.

M - Medium body and just a tad bit thin for a beer of this stature. Definite warming on the way down the 'ol pie hole.

O - This is a beautiful beer and so appreciative to muchloveforhops3 for helping track down a bottle of this.

 

 

 

Roasted malt, bourbon barrel characteristics. Smoky, boozy, very subtle alcohol presence. Not as strong and thick as I’d like from a barrel aged stout. Pretty good.

 

 

A 500ML that’s a cousin to the night incomparable Mother of all Storms - & any relatives of that beer will be greeted with an open door policy in my home.

Black beer with a persistent off-white head. The aroma coats the nose & mouth with rye whiskey & strong chocolate. I like these things.

Father of all Tsunamis is precisely as advertised & expected, a sea surge of roasty malts subsumed in waves of rye whiskey. That’s enough water talk. Underneath, well, who cares, but let’s call it drying oak, spices from the rye, slight bitterness on the finish. This could come in a big bowl & I’d be glad to finish it.

A straightforward barrel aged stout that harks back to the glory days of old. Barrel & great stout = excellent brew.

500 ml bottle into a snifter. 2023 edition, had 6/23/23.

Pours an opaque dark brown, with a quickly dissipating half inch foamy head and a little slippery foamy lacing. Aromas of rye whiskey, dark chocolate, brown sugar, coffee, some vanilla, malt, light oak, light licorice as it warms. Smells spicy. Flavors of rye whiskey, coffee, roasted malt, dark chocolate, some oak, light vanilla and leather, light molasses and licorice. Has a spicy taste and a fair amount of bitterness, mostly on the finish. Smooth, fairly dry, a solid full body, appropriately carbonated.

Not for the faint of heart, it’s pretty intense. Great barrels, rich aromas and flavors, heavily roasted, dry and bitter. Didn’t necessarily expect all of that, but loved it. Would buy this again.

Pours jet black. Aroma is nice combination of chocolate, coffee & vanilla. Taste follows nose with addition of whiskey with a hint of spice. Mouthfeel is medium. Really solid stout.

 

Seemed appropriate for a rainy first ever father's day as a father! 2023 (current) edition.

Pours a lovely near-black with a small khaki brown head that quickly settles to a furry ring around the edge of the glass.

Nose is clean and easy with a lot of bitter coffee and very dark chocolate, sprinkled with a thin layer of vanilla and spice from the barrels. Simple and straightforward. Good stuff.

Flavour leads in with a few consecutive waves. Appropriate for a brewery on the beach. It starts with almost like a molasses, before waves of bitter espresso and high cacao percentage dark chocolate come along. The spice from the barreling blends with the tight sharp carbonation, both of which kind of augment and amplify each other. Sticky. The vanilla is more of an aura than a true discrete flavour on its own, and while one would never mistake this for a sessionable, or even moderately ABV brew, it's not hot/boozy either, integrating the alcohol well, while still letting it be somewhat assertive (especially as it warms/I get further into the glass).
This is a straightforward, well executed BARIS. Spice, espresso, dark chocolate. Dark and barrels. How many more ways can I repeat myself. Maybe I should just call it.

2020 vintage

Poured from a 22 ounce bottle dated 2/3/20 into a snifter.

Look- Black, opaque, medium brown frothy head, scant amount of particulate at the edges, average lacing and head retention.

Smell- Whiskey, cacao, coffee, caramel, high strength of scent.

Taste- Whiskey, coffee, cacao, vanilla, spicy, caramel, high strength of flavor.

Feel- Between medium and full body, average carbonation, mild bitterness, smooth, spicy, moderately mouth warming, moderately creamy.

Overall- Look was black with average head retention and lacing. Bouquet was a great mix of whiskey, cacao, coffee and caramel with plenty of strength. Taste followed true to the nose with even more punch. Feel was between medium and full body with nice creaminess and mouth warming. Overall this beer didn’t disappoint in delivering a great drinking experience.

 

 

S: Sweet. Notes of licorice, dark fruit, whisky, and tobacco. Earthy, pleasant.
T: like the smell, quite sweet. Dark fruit upfront, mostly plum, cherry, and raisins. There’s the rye, and becoming more bitter, a hint of hops with a pine resin character. More than a hint, an active part of the body. Last is the chocolate, oak, and burned caramel notes on the finish.
F: sticky, but not completely smooth. Rich.
O: I like the rye whisky and tobacco notes, but hoppy bitterness and chocolatey finish seals the deal. I dig the complexity and the rich stickiness. The ABV is fairly masked. Great beer, only complaint is it’s just a tad thin on the finish.