Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7

Super deep dark brown and oily topped body with a nice, two to three centimetre tall rich light brown head that stays afloat for a long time above the 90 per cent opaque deep dark brown body that looks a touch inky and viscous on the sides. Aroma of roasted malt, oatmeal, molasses, vanilla, coffee, earth and a lot of nuts with the almonds and brasil nuts seemingly strongest. Medium-bodied; Fairly strong lactose and creamy notes start out at first with the vanilla, earth, grain and mellow icing sugar notes here as well, but the bitterness from the oatmeal and especially the coffee show closer towards the end with a stronger bitterness from pitted fruits with a slight plum and deeper note from fruits comes at the end, with a good deal of residual sugars leftover. Aftertaste is crisp and very strong flavoured with the roasted malt and especially the oatmeal notes coming out strongest with some icing sugar, vanilla and cream here as well, but a lot of bitterness and more pronounced stout flavours, but also some soft sweetness which helps out on not being too rich and robust. Overall, a fairly nicely balanced, on the lighter-side, Imperial Stout with a lot of vanilla, cream, oatmeal and molasses flavours throughout that has a nice profile, but is slightly more robust and pungent than I am used to, even at only 8 per cent alcohol, primarily due to the fact that I had to drink this so young (this is very 'young' for me) given that the can was a bit firm and I wasn't sure how much longer it would last in the cellar, however, upon opening there was no gusher and I was almost to salvage ever drop from the crowler. I sampled this thirty-two ounce crowler, purchased on tap at Rare Bird Brewpub in Traverse City, Michigan on 04-August-2021 for US$8,00 (part of a $24/3 crowler deal), canned on 02-August-2021 and sampled at my house here in Washington, far away from the amazing UP of Michigan on 05-February-2022. Hopefully someone can change this beer type, as obviously (from the description above) is actually an Imperial Stout, not an IPA at all, which is the beer I'm rating - clearly a stout.

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8