The exceedingly dark brown beer has a head that looks like it's made of some kind of whipped chocolate, and there is a LOT of that head. I swear I poured about as carefully as I could, and I still wound up with head of about 1/4 of this pint glass. The aroma is thick with oak, earth, maple, coffee, and chocolate; it's really rich smelling.First sip is heavier with the coffee than I would like, but all those other flavors are definitely asserting themselves over it all. So, the effect of a sip is that this is an alcohol-heavy (checks label and sees that it's 11.7% ABV) hunk of thick bread with all of the ingredients in the nose kind of mixed up into a syrup.
Tip-in is coffee grounds, maple syrup, sweetness, and a bit of earth while carbonation is simply not a factor at all. The middle is bitter overall with the chocolate and coffee mixing up top while the earth and maple linger underneath. Vanilla tries to assert itself, but it is failing against the others. The finish is a serious wave of bitterness that has bitter coffee and bitter chocolate mixed with oak.
Bottom Line: Anticipation was too much. The beer was over-sold, but it's still good.
2.75/5
