I apparently managed to round up a rather spooky collection of brews this month! This next one comes at you with additional props as well.
Beer Name: Dark Apparition
Brewery: Jackie O’s Brewery (Athens, OH)
Style: Russia Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%
Description: Dark malts and bold flavors abound in this brewer’s favorite. Check out the official description here for more information.
Appearance: Dark brown/black body with a short-lived beige lacing from the pour.
Smell: Rich dark malts mingled with molasses and bourbon.
Taste: A strong dark malt backbone topped by a sweet bourbon hear upfront followed by notes of dark chocolate and molasses about halfway into the sip. The finish was warm, with a layer of dark roast covering an excellent barrel presence.
Mouthfeel: On the thinner side of medium and rather slick. Very low level carbonation.
Hype: Elevated due to the brewery’s reputation and cost if the bottle. At $16 my wife informs me that this accounted for almost half of our beer expenditures for my Halloween theme this year.
Overall: It was a good beer, but could have potentially been much more than that with a thicker mouthfeel. The slickness and relatively thin body did make the beer dangerously easy to drink, but that’s not really what I want in a brew like this. I also think that a heartier body would have carried the big tastes a bit better. Considering the price I would probably not repeat this one in the future.
Beer Rants and Books 