500 ml bottle into snifter, bottled on 9/4/2018. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger fairly dense and fluffy tan head with solid retention, that reduces to nothing eventually. Minimal lacing on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, cream, caramel, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, toffee, bourbon, coconut, fudge, brownie batter, toasted oak, roasted nuts, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, cherry, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. Light booze in the aromas as it warms, but not overwhelming. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and bourbon barrel notes; with big strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, cream, caramel, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, toffee, bourbon, coconut, fudge, brownie batter, toasted oak, roasted nuts, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of licorice, raisin, cherry, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness. Very mild herbal/roast/char bitterness; and bourbon/oak spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, cream, caramel, brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, toffee, bourbon, coconut, fudge, brownie batter, toasted oak, roasted nuts, dark/brown bread, licorice, dark fruit, cherry, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, herbal, and yeast/roast/toast/oak earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and bourbon barrel flavors; with an amazing roasted bitter/sweet and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying/acrid flavors after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from lingering bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very creamy, silky, velvety mouthfeel that is fantastic. Slight slickness, sticky hops, chalky char/roast, and oak tannins. Mildly increasing warmth of 14.9%, with no barrel booze lingering after the finish. Overall this is an amazing flavored barrel aged imperial stout! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV, with the mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish. Perfectly balanced between insanely rich malts, vanilla, and bourbon barrel presence/integration. Not overly boozy, tannic, drying on barrels. A highly enjoyable offering, and top tier style variant as expected; but not mind blowing.

A total vanilla overdose

Draft at Craft Brewed. Pours a pitch black with a bit of brown head that dissipates. Strong vanilla and bourbon aromas with lots of cacao nib and coffee dark malt notes. Sweet vanilla on the palate with coffee bitterness and some warming alcohol notes. The vanilla works well and mellows the booze and bitterness. Vanilla cream lingers on the finish with more coffee and cacao nib notes and bourbon. I mean, just a great beer, nothing really more to say.

Reeks of vanilla, tastes like marshmellow, so much vanilla. Massive vanilla Saturn 5 rocket of flavor. Vanilla sugar cookies, vanilla brownies, vanilla cake, vanilla heroin, vanilla regrets, vanilla sorrows, vanilla existential crisis, vanilla big bang.