Cosmic Eye Brewing - Your Friend Death Imperial Stout

"This beer contains NO: vanilla, marshmallows, cookies, breakfast cereals, coffee, chocolate donuts, chilis, milk, sugar, or syrups. It does contain water, hops, yeast, oats and a whole bunch of dark malt. As always we kept the ABV in check so you can drink an entire beer yourself and still function. Yay!"
~ ~ Quote from the back of the can

As the quote above indicates, there is nothing in this beer that wouldn't pass the German beer purity laws (maybe the oats, not sure). I'm perfectly okay with added flavorings in moderation, but the truly great beer experience lives in a beer that derives all its flavor from...the beer. Your Friend Death is brewed in one of the traditional styles: the Imperial Stout. The Imperial Stout was an English ale that was brewed for the Tsar of Russia - he had taken a liking to the working man's stouts and porters and had asked to have some shipped to Mother Russia. In those days of no preservatives, beers were prepped for long journeys in two ways: by brewing it either with a lot of hops (like the India Pale Ale) or a lot of alcohol. Russian Imperial Stout had a high ABV to help it make the trek to St. Petersburg. Modern brewers have taken to using the adjective "imperial" to indicate a higher-than-usual alcohol content.

Your Friend Death pours a tarry black with a robust tan head. The 8.1% ABV isn't what's classified sessionable, but still low enough so that you'll retain your senses after one or two. The bitterness is fairly intense, at 66 IBUs, but it's not the kind of hoppiness that will peel paint or take the enamel off your teeth, just a nice edge that complements the silky smooth maltiness. Despite there being no added flavorings, there are appreciable coffee, chocolate and vanilla notes. The mouthfeel is creamy and thick. Really, this is everything an imperial stout should be. 9.75 on the IGB scale.

New Belgium Honey Orange Tripel

Traditionally  the four varieties of Belgian Abbey Ales are abbey ales, dubbels, tripels and quardrupels or grand crus. Legendarily the regular ales were for the common people, the dubbels went to the local nobility, the tripels to the bishop and the quads they kept for themselves. I'm pretty partial to quads myself, especially the bourbon barrel-aged variety, but today I'm drinking a tripel.

As is usual for a tripel, New Belgium's Honey Orange Tripel pours a bright golden hue with a healthy snow-white head. The honey makes it a bit sweeter than I consider optimal, but doesn't detract from the taste. The orange peel gives it a nice tang. The 25 IBUs put it in the middle of hop bitterness territory. It clocks in at 10% ABV, as the brew warms up, the alcohol heat becomes more evident. Honey Orange Tripel is at once a light summery ale, yet packs a punch, and still has that elegance that you'd expect from a high-end offering.

If it weren't for the cloying sweetness, I'd give this a solid 10, but it will have to be a 9.25 on the IGB scale.

Boulevard Chocolate Ale

Ordinarily, any beer that has chocolate in any form added to it is a stout or a porter, not so with Boulevard Chocolate Ale. The base beer seems to be an amber ale, medium hoppiness (24 IBUs). They describe it as a "strong ale", and the ABV is  8.7%. The hue is coppery, with a two-finger amber head. There's definitely some chocolate in the taste profile, but it isn't overpowering as you get in some ales that add chocolate. In addition to the obvious chocolate there are subtle notes of caramel, toasted bread and oddly enough, some blueberry and floral notes. Despite the added flavoring, the overall beeriness comes through, pushing the additions to the side. Boulevard does it again! 7.5 on the IGB scale.

Bell's Russian Imperial Stout

This is the last review of my three-day weekend series of beers. Expedition Stout by Bell's is a Russian Imperial Stout - no barrel aging, no added flavorings, just good ol' inky-black stout goodness.

After I poured it into a Sam Adams Perfect Pint glass, I held it up to the light and could not see any light coming through...now that's dark. There was a thick two-finger ten head that quickly dissipated to some brown lacing. It has a creamy consistency that one would expect from a well-made stout with battling tastes that include chocolate, coffee and vanilla. It's got a 10.5% ABV, but no discern able alcohol heat. Also absent are the dark fruit notes that are often present in the imperials. Not overly complicated, but the flavors and aromas coming together smoothly. 9.5 on the IGB scale.

Bell's Brewery: "To a Locomotive in Winter - IV" Smoked Porter

I don't think I've ever tried a beer from Bell's Brewery, but here we go...

This particular beer is part of series "celebrating literary classics":
Bell's website: explanation of the "literary classics"

I'm going to refrain from commenting on that aspect, since "classic literature" for me includes Heinlein, Clarke and Asimov, and just talk about the beer.

First of all, it's a smoked porter, or as a certain politician might say, "smocked". "IV" pours a deep dark brown with a healthy chocolate head. The aroma is a little off-putting, as it literally smells like a smoldering campfire - cool if you like that sort of thing, but I could do without it. However, the taste does communicate the smoke that strongly. Once you get past the smoke, the underlying porter is a solid ale that you can sink your teeth into. As it approaches room temperature some chocolate and brown sugar starts to emerge in the taste profile. I can imagine pairing this with a nicely grilled steak, or some pulled pork barbecue. Maybe even something spicy. Overall, pretty decent. 6.5 on the IGB scale.

Boulevard Tasting Room Whiskey & Cabernet Cask Imperial Stout

I have to admit that I wasn't sure what I was in for when I bought a bottle of this stuff yesterday. The description on Boulevard's website makes it sound like they threw together whatever was just laying around, forgot about it for a year and called it "aged":

"This beer is a blend of two different imperial stout recipes aged in an arrangement of rye finished Cabernet casks, French oak Cabernet casks, bourbon barrels, and barrels once containing both Cabernet AND bourbon."
~~The Boulevard website Tasting Room page

I must admit that I was completely wrong about the apparent cobbled-together nature of this stout.

It pours a dark brown with scarlet highlights without much of a head. There is a distinct wine-ish aroma and at the same time a hint of high-end whiskey. For some unknown reason these two aromas go perfectly well together and do not clash at all. The high (12.5%) ABV gives it a boozy quality as well. As it warms up, I can taste something akin to chocolate covered cherries and there's the usual dark fruit suspects.

I was pleasantly surprised. This is not one to give to your lawn guy.

Boulevard Tasting Room Imperial Sweet Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels

Day drinking for me is a rater sedate affair these days. No 24-packs with other drunken comrades, just a nice craft beer while writing a beer review at my desk!

Since Belgian brewer Duvel Moortget bought Boulevard in 2013, their already impressive array of experimental beers expanded exponentially. The Tasting Room series dabbles in ales that are on the cutting edge of the craft beer market. Usually the Tasting Room beers lack names like "Dark Truth" or "80 Acre" and usually just have descriptions.

Today's selection, Imperial Sweet Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels combines several of my favorite beer styles in one. When it comes to stouts I've always been partial to sweet stouts, sometimes referred to as milk stouts. Since lactose doesn't ferment into alcohol like other sugars, adding lactose causes the resulting beer to retain some sweetness. I also have a weakness for anything aged in a bourbon barrel.

As recommended on the Boulevard website I'm enjoyed this stout in a tulip glass. The first impressions that I'm detecting are some dark chocolate and bourbon. The "Imperial" appellation lets you know in advance that there will be some alcohol heat from the 11.9% ABV. As you might expect from the combination of stout and bourbon barrel aging there are also a symphony of dark fruit notes: figs, dates, and black cherry. As it warms up, I can also taste some vanilla and toffee as well as some brown sugar. and maple The IBU count is only 26, so the bitterness is quite restrained.

Overall, a 9 on the IGB scale