Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Can to snifter.
Appearance: dark brown close to black color with a thin cap of a little tan foamy head. Quickly dissipated to leave subtle lace.
Aroma: gingerbread then the normal characters of an impy stout
Flavor: sweet and semi-spicy through the gingerbread which blends with a great dose of roasty and chocolatey tones; quick gingerbread aftertaste with a little bit of roast
Texture: medium bodied, great sipper, semi-roasty and semi-dry finish
Overall: pretty nicely done impy pastry stout with gingerbread in it. I would have again.
Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9
Can to snifter.
Appearance: dark brown to black color with a two finger off-white to almost tan foamy head, mild sliding lace
Aroma: maple syrup, pancake doughiness, chocolate malts, and roasty tones
Flavor: sweet and doughy, chocolatey; maple/chocolatey aftertaste
Texture: medium bodied, thought this would have been cloying but surprisingly enough it wasn't, sweet mapley/chocolatey finish
Overall: absolutely awesome impy pastry stout, I definitely would have again!
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
12 oz can from the 2025 GBS set dated 10/13/2025. Murky brown body with quick fading beige head. Aroma has bourbon, ginger, cinnamon. Taste includes bourbon, caramel/toffee, dried figs/dark fruit, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon. Medium body. Pretty tasty barleywine.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
12 oz can from the 2025 GBS set dated 11/17/2025. Hazy amber body with quick fading beige head. Aroma has bourbon, dried fruits, honey, ginger, cinnamon. Taste includes bourbon, ginger, vanilla, dried fruits, cinnamon. Medium body.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 7 | Overall - 7.5
16oz can from my daughter. Nose is chocolate, toasted marshmallows, with cinnamon and nutmeg. Black with a small tan head. Flavor is lightly sweet and spicy. Decent flavor because it’s not sickening sweet.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Can from Trader Joe's Northville. Pours a deep brown to black with a full 2 fingers of beige head that lingers. Big peppermint and dark chocolate aromas right off the rip. Palate shows more peppermint and dark chocolate with some light coffee and vanilla notes. Peppermint and dark chocolate lingers on the finish. Awesome stuff!
Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8
12oz? stubby bottle. Consumed 3 years after purchase. Poured a pitch black color. Aroma was amazing apple brandy, still holds up after all this time. Gingerbread still there. No oxidation at all. Still super smooth, maybe even more-so than before. Booze is there, I guess, but well masked for be perfectly honest.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
12oz canned 10/16/25, drunk 12/25/25, as pictured.
Gingerbread in the nose with milk chocolate and fudge. An afterthought of bourbon. Maybe a bit of alcohol/glue character but it's mostly passing.
Alcohol and heavily spiced adjunct character. At first it feels too thin and watery but the palate accustoms and it mostly just feels very dry and spicy by the end. Lactose is too apparent. Messy, with glue-like notes and disjointed adjunct. Bourbon is only just barely noticeable. Not sure if I'm more angry that I opened this so young, or that the beer is released in such an obviously too young and horrifically messy state. 12 weeks in barrel is also kind of a joke.
Will try to find a bottle with a year or two age on it and revisit.
Appearance - 7 | Aroma - 6 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8
Fles gedeeld door Keukenman, thuis geprobeerd met kerst. Het is een diep donkerbruin tot zwart bier. Het heeft een aroma van gebrande mout, koffie en rook. De smaak is vol gebrande mout, koffie en gember.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
16oz can. Poured a nearly pitch black color, maybe a bit more like dark cola in color and consistency. Medium sized light tan head. Aroma was light peppermint and chocolate. I kind of expected this one to be very heavy on the peppermint, but the slightly more subtle character was really nice. Kind of on the thin side, but really nice light peppermint character that doesn't overwhelm the base beer.