Bottle shared by AdamChandler--thanks, Adam--at Camp Tasting Finale! Opaque, inky black with nice viscosity, no head, trace lacing. Aroma is strong tobacco, earthy malt, oak, chocolate and coffee. Taste mirrors aroma w/addition of molasses. Thick texture, full bodied, soft carbonation and finish as taste. Not your average stout. Great complexity, balance and strength.

Magnum thanks Adam. Aroma is coffee, bourbon, port, chocolate. Taste follows with smoky tobacco notes.

LCI. Bourbon, chocolate, hides the booze well. Past its prime and some heavy autolysis.

500ml bottle. Roasty and heavy with licorice, vanilla, coffee, chocolate, cocoa, port and bourbon notes. Soft and complex, quite vinous

Bottle, 500 ml, at Luppolo Station. Black with beige head. Roasty, chocolate, coffee, very balanced, sweet with some bitterness in finish.

Brewery draught, 10/6/23. Clear dark mahogany with magenta highlights. Tan head steadily to ring. Spicy coffee, nutty, earthy, chocolatey cacao and elegant bourbon. Light vanilla, raisin and long, dry caramel. No booze or excess sugar. Love all this spiciness. Just a speck of wine on the very end, as it warms. Chocolate, tobacco, fruity coffee and a backdrop of chocolate-vanilla-caramel. Good attenuation with a touch of syrupiness to the body. Bourbon is spicy, forward, elegant. Chewy cacao is about the best I've ever tasted in a beer. Literally tastes like chocolate melting in my mouth and balanced the spicy bourbon element perfectly. No booze, not too sweet. Elegant stuff.

Blend of imperial stouts aged in tawny port and bourbon barrels in a wonderful series by New England superstar Hill Farmstead; bottle shared with Craftmember. Initially moussy, deep tan head, quickly reduced to an open, thin ring and eventually disappearing altogether; blackish robe with thin burgundy edges, misty. Rich and deep bouquet of black bitter chocolate, vanillin (oak), ground hazelnuts, a whiff of tawny port recognizable but bourbon more prominent, burnt muscovado sugar, Wiener Sachertorte, black cherries, dark red wine, salmiak (vaguely), caramel, blackberry jam, coffee liqueur, Belgian chocolates, touch bayleaf, cocoa, teriyaki. Sweet, dense onset, dark forest berry compote and date jam with a light teriyaki-like umami touch, soft carbonation with oily but remarkably supple, smooth, almost ‘slender’ mouthfeel for this style, increasing drinkability; toffeeish, chocolatey and walnutty malts with added cocoa bittersweetness, accentuating the chocolatey aspect. Some coffee bitterness in the end but graciously so, offering a mild streak of bitterness in an overall bittersweet character with more emphasis on sweetness than on bitterness. Lovely vanilla-scenting oaky tannins with lingering umami elements adorn this chocolate-toffee-coffee complex, while warming bourbon-like alcohol fits in perfectly, blending in with the rest rather than being imposed on it – likely because it is tempered with a sweet tawny port factor, integrated into the whole as well without standing out at any point. This whole construction breathes Hill Farmstead elegance and finesse from beginning to end – nothing is even remotely ‘wrong’ or unbalanced here, every little detail falls exactly in its place and this is rare even among top U.S. stouts. More than excellent and worth every penny.

On tap at Proletariat. Pours black. Coffee, bourbon, port, chocolate, dried fig, milk chocolate, light umami. Nice oily body. Very nice.

Draught at Proletariat: pours black with beige head. Aroma is soy sauce, coffee, dark chocolate. Somewhat sweet, low bitterness, nice barrel notes. Coffee notes. Excellent.