Brewery: Great Divide Brewing Co.
Brew: Oak aged chocolate imperial stout
*sorry not my pic. I'm having issues getting the picture off my card*
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/158/19216
If I had only one word to describe this beer, knowing how your stereotypical imperial stout tastes, I would say SPICY!
Initially this beer pours without a lot of head. Swirling it around, it laces the glass nicely, right up there with Avery's mephistopholes, but second to Goose Island's Bourbon county stout.
It smells good, but unfortunately I just finished the glass and haven't drank much the last few weeks so my olfactory nerves are now dulled a bit. I can still pick up a little chocolate and beer.
Taste wise, you can pick up hints of dark chocolate, burnt wood?, stout beer (damn, I need to write beer reviews after a couple sips, not after getting tipsy), and cayenne pepper. Much like eating a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce, initially it's not too spicy, but over time that spice builds up and leaves a lasting "hi, I'm hot", in your mouth. I downed my first glass pretty quick and that spice was very noticeable. Very comparable to my steaks, which by the way I could see my self eating while indulging on a bottle.
Unlike some other imperial stouts I've had recently and wasn't impressed enough to even write about, this beer has a lot of body. It's heavy and thick tasting, not something you want to drink quickly. This allows it to be drinkable at a wider variety of temperatures. My first drink was around 40 degrees, much too cold for this beer really, and now it's around the mid 60's and still tastes great. A little bitterness with the accompanying malty sweetness and other subtle flavors helping to balance things out. Oh, and did I mention the cayenne that leaves a lingering hotness?
Price: $10.99/22oz bottle.
All in all this beer scores well; an easy A! My former favorite 22oz imperial stout*, Avery's Czar, just got smoked. (get it, because this beer is hot/spicy
)
If you can find it, I recommend it. Let me know what foods you pair it up with, that cayenne is throwing me off.
*
Avery's Mephistopheles imperial stout comes in 12oz bottles and remains my all-time favorite with Goose Islands Bourbon County taking a very close 2nd. I had a local liquor store special order me a case of Bourbon coffee stout and am just waiting for it to come in.