On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, dramatic mocha-doused Christmas seasonal (2013) picks up dry hop-charred bittering to deepen dark chocolate-milked coffee bean assertion over soft-watered base. Molasses sinew drapes ancillary vanilla, anise and walnut illusions. Dryer than most stylistic competitors.
Bountiful bourbon-barreled Imperial Stout allows hop-charred Peruvian coffee roast to embitter molasses-smoked dark chocolate segue, cocoa-buttered vanilla creaming and sour cherry uprising. Sweet bourbon, burgundy and whiskey illusions heighten mocha theme. In deep recess, oaken grape tannins gain strength over tertiary espresso, cocoa nibs, anise and raisin undertones.
Industrious flavor profile hybridized by rauchbier-like peated malt smokiness while anchored by dark-roasted chocolate and coffee bittering. Chocolate-chipped cookie dough center picks up molasses sugaring, depleting some of the early beechwood-like campfire sear and prolific Band-aid waft by the bold mocha finish.
Eccentric dark ale aged in oak with ‘coffee, rhubarb, herbs and spices’ wavers wildly and never finds solid ground. Soy-sauced coffee souring turns to muck as dry burgundy-port wining flattens above nitro-like charcoal soothe. Vinous white grape tannins and orange-candied tartness receives saffron-spiced dusting.
Curious Brazilian stout (a.k.a Ithaca) nearly drowns out stylistic brown chocolate creaming with vinous purple grape souring and dry burgundy-wined plum, fig and date uprising. Warbly coffee-burnt molasses undertones drape sharp hop-spiced sensation. Soy-milked snip and charcoal blip make cameos. But expansive flavor profile seems murky.
On tap at Shepherd & Knucklehead, enjoyable soft-watered nitro version of classic stout loads sugary brown chocolate sweetness atop molasses-dipped toffee, anise and cocoa illusions. Light gingerbread spicing contrasts ashen hop-charred charcoal bittering. A fine mocha-enriched dessert treat.
Dignified bourbon-barreled Imperial Stout brings whiskeyed chocolate spicing to rich molasses-sapped rye wheat base. Oaken vanilla mellowing deepens sweet bourbon luster. Brown-sugared pecan, hazelnut and praline undertones make small impact. Tertiary dark cherry, anise, coffee and cocoa illusions activate the backend.
Decadent garnet-blackened imperial stout layers creamily maple-sugared brown chocolate syrup atop autumnal pureed pumpkin spicing. Pumpkin-pied cinnamon, gingerbread and nutmeg resilience gains residual fern, pine nut and mint presence as well as a brusque floral hop snipe. Vanilla bean, hazelnut coffee, dark cocoa, toffee, peat whiskey and pancake batter illusions enrapture sweet pumpkin spicing at chewy mocha finish.
Affluent cocoa-seeded dark chocolate roast and reedy hop char ascend above ashen pine-tarred tobacco chaw bittering. Oncoming espresso coffee contingent deepens creamy smoked mocha finish. Butter pecan, burnt caramel and toffee sweetness inundate the back-end. Casual dried fruiting (red plum/black cherry), delicate bourbon whir and wispy anise snip find tertiary space.
Pour slowly hybridized Imperial Stout (with dried fruited Flanders Red-styled souring) or risk carbolic overload. Musky Belgian chocolate spicing receives ascending cocoa chalked astringency, slick caramel malting and murky pecan-chestnut smear, drenching the mustily tart cherry-berry-fig acridity. Dirty earthen peat bottom negatively coarsens the roasted hop bittering until the mildly creamed mocha tendencies all but disappear.
Sumptuous full-bodied Imperial Stout attempts to imitate Hershey’s S’mores snack by loading syrupy mocha richness and viscous marshmallow fluff to overwhelmed Graham cracker spine. Thrusting dark-roasted chocolate malting deepens black patent caramel, mocha cappuccino, Baker’s chocolate, powdered cocoa and vanilla undertones. Sugary barley-oats flouring ultimately contrasts tar-like hop char.
