Fundamental Observation
(has 13 batches)

Well ain't that something. Lots of vanilla without getting metallic, buttery bourbon, smooth, thick and rich. Sweetness.. marshmellow?

Bottle (thanks brandon). Pours dark brown. Aroma is sweet, roast, malt, vanilla, extracty, booze. Flavor is sweet and bitter, vanilla, malt, bourbon, roast, chocolate, booze. Finish is sweet and chocolate. Overall: great.

Got in a trade with RaulMondesi. 500 ml bottle into snifter, 2018 vintage bottling. Pours dense pitch black color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky tan head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lasts. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of big milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, fudge, marshmallow, vanilla, cream, bourbon, toasted oak, nuts, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coconut, coffee, molasses, licorice, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Some increasing 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 great strength. Taste of huge milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, fudge, marshmallow, vanilla, cream, bourbon, toasted oak, nuts, and dark/brown bread; with lighter notes of coconut, coffee, molasses, licorice, raisin, prune, fig, date, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness. Mild roast/char bitterness and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, caramel, brown sugar, toffee, fudge, marshmallow, vanilla, cream, bourbon, toasted oak, nuts, dark/brown bread, light molasses/licorice/dark fruit, smoke, char, leather, tobacco, and roast/toast/oaky earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, vanilla, and bourbon barrel flavors; with an awesome roasted bitter/sweet and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying/acrid flavors after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from lingering roast/char bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and very full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/velvety, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is amazing. Mildly increasing warmth of 13.2%, with minimal barrel booze lingering after the finish. Overall this is an amazing barrel aged flavored 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. Insanely rich malt complexity; with perfectly balanced vanilla flavors, and bourbon barrel integration. Not overly roast/charred on malts, or boozy/tannic on barrels. A highly amazing offering, and top tier style example as expected.

100ml on tap at Mikkeller Warsaw. Thin ring tan head. Clear black pour. Bourbon notes. Very smooth. Great.

Bourbon barrel aged and vanilla-flavoured stout, bomber shared at pre-Zwanze tasting in Bruges, thanks Bart. I was highly anticipating this one, seen its dazzling score on this very website... Yellowish mocha-coloured, moussy, thick, creamy but open ring over jet black beer with wine red glow under bright light. Aroma of vanilla-flavoured cookies and hazelnut paste, fresh brownies, cinnamon, hot chocolate sauce, sweet bourbon, vanilla-ish oak reinforcing the added vanilla even more, cocoa powder, leather, blackcurrant, fig compote, glue, shoe polish. Very dense onset, a concentrated 'ball' of candied sweetness mingled with light sourish and umami touches - but the 'praline'-like sweetness is key here, accentuated later on by first a thick, creamy wave of toffeeish, chocolatey, peanut-buttery maltiness with mocha ice cream and brownies effects, beautifully adorned with elegant, fragrant vanilla. Long finish, primarily sweet but in a very refined and complex way and with light bittering toasty and hoppy notes hidden within; the bourbon adds a different kind of sweetness as well as beautiful warming glow, while oaky tannins remain soft and more aromatic than drying. A liquid Belgian chocolate - the perfect embodiment of American style imperial stout's tendency towards praline-like sweetness throughout the 21st century, a tendency affecting most highly profiled imperial stouts these days (and one that has given rise to its own logical extreme in the form of 'Scandinavian' style pastry stout as well); in that sense, this beer is bound to please the masses of American and American-influenced beer geeks - which makes it sound like an easy option, but of course creating a complex desserty stout like this with this amount of refinement, balancing of all those little flavours and technical skillfulness is not for any brewer - and Bottle Logic pulled it off. No complaints here, this deserves a top score.

29-09-18 // taster from bottle at Mon Petit Cafe Stuttgart at the Pre-Zwanze-Tasting. Deep black ith a small biege head. Intense aromas in the nose. Dark chocolate, saucey, coffee, vanilla and great whisky barrel aromas. An outstanding beer.

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