Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours!
After a long day today and just wrapping up my Santa duties for the year, I'm finally sitting down after a few well-earned beers at the annual Christmas Eve family gathering. The Dogfish Head IPA sampler pack had some old favorites and a new one in there too!
I knew this morning what I was going to review tonight so I stuck it in the fridge quick this AM. My Tavour order showed up earlier than expected, but this special guy was something that I've been sitting on for nearly a year and I've been waiting for just the right time to break it out. I think that tonight is as fine a night as any!
An order from earlier this year from Tavour included something that I knew I'd have to let age slightly until the blog came back for the 6th year. Folks across the craft beer scene rave about Oklahoma based Prairie Artisan Ales and their Bomb! An imperial stout aged on coffee, chocolate, vanilla beans, and ancho chili peppers under normal circumstances, this particular selection is the Christmas Bomb! A 13% ABV imperial stout brewed with some additional spices, this thing would probably keep and mellow for years on end.
The label art is pretty unique in that you can be entertained for a few extra minutes while drinking looking for some differences in each of the photos on the bottle. That's fun!
I'm busy, and tired, so I'll spare you any more details. Onto the review!
The beer poured from a 12 ounce bottle, black as can be with a thin bead of mocha colored head at the top. Thick, syrupy malts, bourbon sweetness, some spices in the background, vanilla, and a slight pepper heat can be found in the aroma of this behemoth.
For real though. This beer tastes amazing. I'm calling it a 5 out of 5 before even telling you any more about it. I mean I will, but you just need to know it's that good ahead of time.
There are flavors galore in this beer. You got some cinnamon, sweet chocolate, bourbon sweetness, vanilla, mild chili pepper heat, coffee and a mixture of spices that just work so darn well in this imperial stout. Nothing overpowers anything else here. I love the pepper heat, but it comes in just as quick as it leaves as to also not overpower anything else in the beer. Everything plays so nicely together for a beer of this style and ABV that it's outstandingly made. I've always balked at paying a premium for something like this, but now I'm glad I have the regular, run-of-the-mill Bomb! sitting in my beer room aging as well. I'm super-excited to try the normal variant of this style another night.
Merry Christmas Eve to you and yours! See you tomorrow for the final entry for 2018!
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