Imperial Stout Appreciation Thread (2023)

Deschutes The Abyss 2017 Reserve BBA Imperial Stout, 11.4% ABV. Nicely complex. I rated this 4.34. Just bought this pre-aged. Abyss was one of the first truly big beers I had when I got into craft. Not a fan of licorice, but still good.

 

Heading to dinner (I know it wouldn’t stop you). We’ll see how the rest of the night goes. Plus I like to wait for the kids to be in bed before opening a 16%er

 

Coffee still there. A little cardboard/oxidation. Bourbon definitely there. And I think aging hot beers does nothing. Tastes every bit of 16%. I should have asked for a markdown given it was on their shelves for 6 years. Oh well, it’s definitely past its prime, but good.

Note: label says 4 months in barrels, which is confounding. There’s so much bourbon even after 6 years on the shelf. Good job Avery. Makes me wonder how long they age KBS for these days, because I get basically no spirit presence at all in that (and many others).

 

War Beast by Little Cottage Brewery in Georgia. One of the best beers I've had this year. Last day before the end of vacation and back to the grind.

Cheers!

 

I think a lot of that boozy character depends on how wet the barrels are. I have to imagine that any beer produced at the scale of a kbs is dealing with some barrels that can't be put to use right away, meaning they need to be filled with something (water I'd guess) to keep the barrel from drying out.

That's got to lead to a lot less Bourbon character than a situation where the freshly emptied Bourbon barrels are refilled with beer the same day

 

Genesee Brewers Series Imperial Stout.



Much better than you would expect from Genesee.

 

so glad this one is finally back! an excellent cup of morning coffee. cheers!!

 

looks luscious

 

is that your photo or a stock photo? if it's yours whats that treatment on the wall? its cool

 

Thanks! It's my photo. I create backgrounds for my beer art using different mediums, mainly spray paint or acrylic paint. This one I layered a couple different gold spray paints over some blacks and browns. The piece was painted on the glossy side of a sheet of poster board. Using the glossy side allows the paint to stand up on top of the poster board as opposed to being absorbed resulting in the texture you see in the photo.

 

Really cool...thanks for the detailed explanation..I may try it out

 

Hmm. I’ll have to look for a single of that one.

 

Free Will Brewing -Anna's Ralphius.

15.6%abv, they use the spent fruit, spices and vanila used in making their house flavored bourbon. It was excellent.

Enjoyed along with some espresso chocolate mousse

 

Should have clarified, Anna's Bourbon is the house flavored bourbon by Spinnerstown Tavern. They collaborate with Free Will for this Ralphius variant.

 

This is sad. Drowned Lands is pretty close to me, and I was hoping this would be good. Their Ten Acres series is pretty solid, especially the coffee one.