"Imperial stout with coconut, coffee, chocolate and vanilla" from Marz, a brewery in Chicago, which I believe is the city with the highest number of craft breweries in North America; can from Bier Bazaar - and cheers to my colleague Lode's description of the label below, I could not describe it any better. Medium thick, quickly opening, deep yellowish-beige, fine-bubbled head initially retaining as a creamy ring and some veils in the middle but disappearing afterwards, over a black beer with deep burgundy red edges of no more than a few millimetres. Intriguing bouquet of chocolate sauce, fudge, bourbon, indeed coconut flakes, latté macchiato, cold Irish coffee, 'drop' and liquorice, vanilla already retreated to the background a bit but still very noticeable, hazelnut paste, roasted chicory, molasses, hints of shower gel, wodka, heavily sauced black pipe tobacco but not dominantly so. Dense, sweet onset, candied dates, rum-soaked raisins, very light sourish undertone offering a bit of balance against the overall sweetness, refinedly carbonated but still with minerally effects gently piercing through a very full, oily, smooth body; 'deep' layers of toffeeish, black-chocolatey and sweet-cashew-nutty malts ensue, filling the mouth cavity with a big, bold bittersweetness, though sweetness clearly prevails, accentuated by the actual added chocolate (adding to the chocolate sauce experience) and the vanilla, which does pop up retronasally. The coconut, something I love as long as it does not cross my path every single day and remains 'pure' and natural, is certainly there, but less strongly so than expected; instead the booze takes over in the end, very bourbon-like and very 'American' in a way, while the coffee gradually overshadows the coconut (also retronasally, in a refined aromatic way). Some coffeeish roasted bitterness supports this coffee aroma, but the chocolate never goes away and the whole ends like a liquid 'chocomousse' flavoured with coffee (and bourbon). The booze in itself could have been a bit more subtle for me (becoming rather wry in the very end) and the sweetness should not be this heavy either, but it cannot be denied that a beer like this embodies American style imperial stout anno 2021, a style imitated all through the Western world today. I cling to the idea that a bit less booziness and (much) less sweetness would make even a pastry stout like this better, but I guess this is what today's craft beer crowds want, and I have to admit that in its genre, this is very well made, with extra points for its alluring, expressive, flawlessly desserty aroma. --- Beer merged from original tick of King Kona Vs. Marzilla on 19 Feb 2021 at 23:44 - Score: Appearance - 4 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5. Original review text: Imperial stout with coconut, coffee, chocolate and vanilla from Marz, a brewery in Chicago, which I believe is the city with the highest number of craft breweries in North America; can from Bier Bazaar - and cheers to my colleague Lode's description of the label below, I could not describe it any better. Medium thick, quickly opening, deep yellowish-beige, fine-bubbled head initially retaining as a creamy ring and some veils in the middle but disappearing afterwards, over a black beer with deep burgundy red edges of no more than a few millimetres. Intriguing bouquet of chocolate sauce, fudge, bourbon, indeed coconut flakes, latté macchiato, cold Irish coffee, 'drop' and liquorice, vanilla already retreated to the background a bit but still very noticeable, hazelnut paste, roasted chicory, molasses, hints of shower gel, wodka, heavily sauced black pipe tobacco but not dominantly so. Dense, sweet onset, candied dates, rum-soaked raisins, very light sourish undertone offering a bit of balance against the overall sweetness, refinedly carbonated but still with minerally effects gently piercing through a very full, oily, smooth body; 'deep' layers of toffeeish, black-chocolatey and sweet-cashew-nutty malts ensue, filling the mouth cavity with a big, bold bittersweetness, though sweetness clearly prevails, accentuated by the actual added chocolate (adding to the chocolate sauce experience) and the vanilla, which does pop up retronasally. The coconut, something I love as long as it does not cross my path every single day and remains 'pure' and natural, is certainly there, but less strongly so than expected; instead the booze takes over in the end, very bourbon-like and very 'American' in a way, while the coffee gradually overshadows the coconut (also retronasally, in a refined aromatic way). Some coffeeish roasted bitterness supports this coffee aroma, but the chocolate never goes away and the whole ends like a liquid 'chocomousse' flavoured with coffee (and bourbon). The booze in itself could have been a bit more subtle for me (becoming rather wry in the very end) and the sweetness should not be this heavy either, but it cannot be denied that a beer like this embodies American style imperial stout anno 2021, a style imitated all through the Western world today. I cling to the idea that a bit less booziness and (much) less sweetness would make even a pastry stout like this better, but I guess this is what today's craft beer crowds want, and I have to admit that in its genre, this is very well made, with extra points for its alluring, expressive, flawlessly desserty aroma.