Bourbon barrel aged imperial stout from this brewery in Oregon, from a 2016 vintage bottle (four years old). Thinnish but densely creamy, pale greyish beige head, open but remaining stable as a ring and some dotty lacing here and there; black robe with hazy mahogany edges. Aroma of melting fondant chocolate, toffee, molasses, chestnut cream sauce, Belgian chocolates, indeed obvious bourbon but nowhere too overpowering, coffee dessert or latte macchiato, wood glue, stewed pear, vanilla, black pipe tobacco. Sweet onset, hinting at candied cherries, fig jam and raisins, very light sourish edge, softish carb (refined), with a full, thick, oily body that nevertheless seems to be a bit thinned by alcohol. Dark-chocolatey, molasses- and chestnut-like maltiness with a slight coffee note but remaining soft in roasted bitterness and centered more around sweetness, accentuated by the bourbon, making for a hot and warming, bittersweet ending with ‘deep’ tannic woodiness and retronasal vanilla; lots of bourbon, chestnut and molasses linger in a long, soothing, bittersweet finish. Typical contemporary ‘impy’: thick and rich, perhaps a tad too obviously boozy in comparison with the great legends in this style, but lacking a bit of roasted bitterness for balance – why is it that present-day stouts tend to be this sweet? The global success they are enjoying today, no doubt…