First sip is possibly stronger than the smell. It is wood, chocolate, coffee, brown liquor, vanilla, and there may be more things, but my taste buds caused my whole head to shake with delight, and holy crap do I want to drink this whole bottle right now. Instead, I will start to swig only a fourth of the bottle at a time.
Tip-in is chocolate malt with very mild carbonation sizzle and some highlights of vanilla. The middle is even more chocolate with a touch of coffee and brown liquor as the syrup-thick beer highlights more with wood than vanilla now. The finish is a swell of bitterness that compliments rather than detracts from the rest of the beer.
Bottom Line: Even without the impressively high 11.8% ABV, this was a good beer. Every sip is making me like it more.
3.75/5