On tap at Plank Pizza, passionately designed Madagascar vanilla bean version of famous bourbon-aged Imperial Stout really is decadent. Creamily rich vanilla sugaring informs fudgy dark chocolate mass. Light bourbon sweetness glides into luxurious chocolate-vanilla sludging. Luscious crème brulee, milk chocolate, toasted coconut, marshmallow, hazelnut coffee and Graham Cracker illusions as well as latent burgundy licks contrast tarry hop-charred bittering at bold dessert finish.
On tap at Ambulance, silken Jameson Irish whiskey barrel aging glazes creamily bourbon-sweetened vanilla bean prominence and serene brown chocolate spicing of excellent nitrogenated stout. Smoked black malts provide modest bittering to contrast honey-smoked Jameson whiskey warmth.
“Luxuriously silky” bourbon stout allows intense bourbon vanilla entry to pick up complementary brown chocolate-spiced caramel, molasses, coffee and cocoa tones. In the midst, gooey anise sinew coats the tongue while latent charred wood bittering contrasts vanilla-creamed mocha decadence and sweet bourbon sedation of lusty 10.8% ABV full body.
Unconvincingly enigmatic stout lets dry vanilla-beaned sarsaparilla root adjunct punctuate flashy initiation. But its creamily smooth black chocolate syruping, gooey anise uprising, delicate bourbon tingle and mild cola nuttiness never properly reinforce the stifled vanilla root beer entry and a slight compost waft seems out of place.
On tap at Coastal Craft Beverage, heavenly Imperial Stout aged on coconut and vanilla stays rich and creamy. Bittersweet vanilla-beaned coconut toasting picks up coffee-roasted anise spicing and oats-sugared black chocolate malting. Fudged brownie, chocolate cake, Black Forest cake and marshmallow remnants add to the mighty mocha dessert treat.
On tap at Flying Saucer in St. Louis, creamily smooth stout utilizes lactose-sugared Ugandan vanilla beans to further sweeten milky black chocolate resonance as well as cocoa, marshmallow and molasses undertones in contrast to astringent hop roast.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, passively interesting golden-hazed white stout affixes vanilla-sugared white chocolate adjunct to mild cream soda sweetness and mellow lemon meringue tartness – contrasting latent grassy-hopped astringency. But its vanilla affectation falls off before subsidiary cacao nibs, espresso and coconut illusions provide sufficient backup. Canned version contrasts lemon meringue tartness against sweet vanilla creaming, but not as convincingly.
Creamy milk chocolate-like ale (in a can) brewed with vanilla picks up oats-sugared hop char to lactic mocha finish. Bittersweet vanilla bean sentiment harbors slick dark and brown chocolate malting. Tertiary cocoa powder, coconut, chocolate pudding, blackberry and anise undertones add color. Distant tar-like cigar ash bittering fades below.
