“Imperial Stout with Ancho Chilies, Cacao Nibs, Cinnamon, and Vanilla Beans”
Glassware: Snifter.
Appearance: Black as midnight with a quickly fading dark brown head. It settles at the rim with little lacing as we imbibe.
Aroma: Sweet baby Jesus this smells good…kinda like chai latte, iced mocha and hearty stout all rolled in to one. Then topped off with that classic acidity from the chilli peppers. The olfactory’s are in a spin trying to work out which scent dominates. Ultimately nothing does, it’s simply an amazing concoction of spice, peppers, charred malts, chocolate, espresso, vanilla, raw cacao, cola and toasted marshmallow. Freakin amazing!
Flavour: Again that chai latte note features quite prominently with its array of mixed spice, milk froth, vanilla and mild coffee. A surge of charred malt, chocolate, cacao and licorice is beautifully balanced by a touch of cola syrup and muscovado sugar sweetness. Then it all levels off in to an incredibly smooth finish with lingering warmth, spice, espresso and cocoa.
Mouthfeel: Oily and slick. It’s truly amazing how some of these U.S breweries achieve such a low density while maintaining a full body and massive ABV (11.5% in this case).
Overall: We think it’s safe to say that the ’19 vintage is better than last year’s. We found the ’18 was too eager on the spice front where here they’ve struck that perfect middle ground. Flawless.