What beer are you drinking now? #2311

Amazing as usual. Flavors of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, nutty dark roast coffee, molasses, caramel, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, toasted oak, and dark bread; with lighter notes of dark fruit, smoke, and charcoal. Balanced roast/char bittersweet and bourbon/oak spicy finish. Medium carbonation and full bodied; awesome creamy, silky, velvety, and lightly slick mouthfeel; with some lightly drying chalky roast and bourbon/oak tannins after the finish. Mildly increasing warming finish, minimal boozy barrel notes. Very smooth sipper. Fantastic barrel integration/balance with the fruity/nutty coffee and rich malts; without being overly boozy on the barrels. More recent batches did not seem to need as much added age to mellow from the barrel booze aspect when fresher, vs previous years. Plus, the last 2 years higher ABV made them even richer.


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Amazing as usual this year. Flavors of huge grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, peach, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, mango, melon, guava, berries, citrus peel/rind, green pepper, and pine hops; with moderate cracker, biscuit, light honeyed malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Light-moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body; balanced bready/grainy malt and sticky/resinous hops in the mouthfeel. Crisp/drying finish and never astringent on bitterness. Amazing juicy, vibrant, and dank hop profile; refreshingly drinkable for an IPA even at 7.7%. Mosaic and Equinox hops are my favorite of all time. They have been changing around the hops every year; but as long as those two stay, I don't care much. Got 3 packs as I usually do.


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2014 vintage. This was insane as expected. Aromas and flavors of huge dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, molasses, toffee, vanilla, biscuit, roasted nuts, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, and dark bread; with light notes of licorice, raisin, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, and tobacco. Very mild roast/char bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very creamy, silky, velvety, and rich mouthfeel that is amazing. Slight slickness, chalky roast, oak tannins, and increasing dryness. No cloying. Minimal warming 11%, no barrel booze. Insanely smooth sipper. This is definitely one of the best vintages out of the recent lot I've tried. Insanely rich/silky malts with perfect barrel integration. Not boozy or tannic on barrels. I got a handful of vintages a few weeks ago from a friend. World class RIS all the time. I prefer the base beer over a year old, just gets better after that.


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Fantastic IPA as always. Aromas and flavors of huge mango, peach, apricot, pineapple, papaya, grapefruit, tangerine, lemon/orange peel, citrus rind, wood, peppercorn, and pine hops; with moderate cracker, toasted biscuit, light honey/caramel malts; and herbal, floral, grassy hop earthiness. Moderate pine, citrus peel/rind, herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery bitterness on the finish. Medium carbonation/body, and fairly crisp finishing. Balanced bready/grainy creaminess, and sticky/resinous/rindy hops in the mouthfeel. Moderate increasing resin dryness, minimal hop astringency. Very smooth, not overly aggressive, 7.2%. Pretty unique hop profile from Crystal, but works amazingly in this IPA. Great mix of juicy, vibrant, dank, earthy citrus/fruity hops; with a nice bready malt backbone. Minimal residual sweetness from crisp resin dryness. Love all of the Hero IPAs, this is one of the better ones IMO.


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Wow this is amazing. Aromas and flavors of huge milk chocolate, cocoa, caramel, coconut, vanilla, toffee, fudge, marshmallow, and dark/brown bread; with light notes of coffee, smoke, mint, salt, and herbal hops. Very mild herbal/roast bitterness on the finish. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very creamy, silky, velvety, and rich mouthfeel that is amazing. Very mild chalky roast, and increasing dryness. Minimal warming 10%, insanely smooth, no cloying. Another absolute killer dessert stout, nailed this. Not overly sweet. Wasn't quite as impressive as the Thick Mint, but really close. Tastes just like the girl scout cookies all the way.


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