This beer was reviewed as a Wood-aged Imperial Stout (Category 33A with 20C as declared base style) under the 2015 BJCP guidelines. A big and brash base beer aged in wood is the expectation, and it is certainly met!
Upon presentation, the beer is a deep reddish brown, just shy of black, with a thin off-white head, giving a Porterish appearance. The nose is very pleasant and quite perfumey, with a distinct bourbon barrel prominence. The alcohol is quite aromatic and clean, with some low fruity esters & vanilla. A low floral note follows with some dark fruit (fig) & a cherry stone quality. Very pleasant, if a touch hot/boozy.
On tasting, it is loaded with chocolate & vanilla and a light burnt note that works here. Deeply fruity, again with cherry and fig from the combination of darker malts & fruit esters. The cocoa notes are almost sweet, suggesting possible vanilla additions. On top of this is a distinctly big & burly/boozy beer. Bitter black malts finish up the beer. It has a very full body and is quite bitter, which keeps the sweetness in check. Big and boozy, with an alcoholic finish that's slightly hot & prickly. This all made sense once I learned that this is a bigger version of Dragon's Milk, tipping the scales at 17%, though it never seems that big!
Super cool beer and a neat take on the original Dragon's Milk. While not totally a stout, it comes off as a blend of a barleywine and Imperial Stout. A touch of age could do wonders to soften some of the alcohol top notes, but really stellar stuff!
