The Abyss 2019 Reserve Imperial Stout from Deschutes Brewery

I never tire of saying it and I hope you never tire of hearing it - but I love barrel-aged ales and I love stouts. The Abyss 2019 Reserve is an Imperial stout, aged in bourbon barrels. This beauty pours like tar, black and thick, although not much of a head. The 11.7% ABV gives it a nice boozy heat. The Deschutes website uses the word "quaff" in connection with this ale, which I believe means drinking, but with a lot more spilling. I would not recommend spilling any of this valuable diamond-in-the-bottle. You're going to detect plenty of competing flavors, licorice and molasses the most forward, but with fig, date and raisin in the mix. Look hard enough and you'll uncover coffee & chocolate, cherry & maple, and of course some bourbon shyly hiding behind the rest of the gang. I just ate a brownie minutes before pouring this, it would have made a great pairing with this lovely imperial stout.