Thanksgiving Eve

Thanksgiving Eve - the night everyone goes out in their hometown and it's like an unofficial HS reunion.. right?  And almost all of us HATE it, even though 98% of you will still go out.  Not me..  Yeah, I still met up with a HS friend, but a friend that's been there since before HS and still around.  And I drank good beer.  Bet I had a better time than you!

Up first - Wachusett - Imperial Black IPA.  7.3% ABV and 70 IBUs.  Found a packie selling a giant stock of these for $1.99 each... what?!  Fuck. Yes.  I bought 5, duh.  Just finally reviewing one now.  Pitch black pour and 2inch light tan head.  Faint piney hop aroma and mellow roasty malts.. touch of black chocolate and licorice.  Just what I'd expect.  For a 7.3% Imperial Black.. this is rather light-bodied.  Smooth and a great hop profile, even for being more than 6 months old - piney, grassy and perfectly bitter to offset the roasty malts.  Bitter and black chocolate, roasted coffee, roasted malts..  a touch of smoke.  Honestly, almost a perfectly balanced Black IPA..  Wachusett flies under the radar with their stuff.. it's all very very solid.
- - 7 Hops

Shout out to by college buddy, Kirk, from SI for this one!  Sent it up earlier in the year with some other good shit..  Flying Dog - Kujo Imperial Coffee Stout.  8.9% ABV and 40 IBUs..  this lil puppy has aged about a year at this point, not idea if it'll be released up here this year either.  Shitty-ass cell phone pic doesn't do this justice.  Lovely mahogany brown/borderline black pour.. almost no head.  The freshly ground coffee and roasty malt nose jump from the glass.  This is SO smooth, it's scary.  It's like someone watered-down Kahlua with the best coffee you could ever imagine.  Amazing coffee flavors, just the right amount of booze, roasty and toasted malts, molasses, brown sugar.. everything you could ever imagine.  As it warms, more of a milk chocolate flavor comes through, lactose, the booze increases, and the coffee subsides a bit...  underlying spice notes - cinnamon and nutmeg - that you'd expect from a Winter Warmer..  this is f'n wonderful!
- - 9 Hops

Finally - Clown Shoes/Brash - Pimp - a collab brew at 10.0% ABV.  Clown Shoes apparently brewed a double-batch of Brown Angel at 10.0% and Brash did a Belgian Brown.. and the two were blended.  Holy mind blowing..  The perfect stained-wood brown pour.. nice tan head.  Roasty, nutty, brown bread, with an underlying rich caramel sweetness and woody notes.  Um.. what I said about the other beers tonight being smooth...? Yeah, forget I said that.. THIS shit is smooth.  It's the sweetness, combined with the malts that made this easier to drink than water.  Boozy, but hidden.. the roasty and bitter malts/coffee bounce of each other and surprisingly complement the sweeter milk chocolates and caramel.  Slight touch of dark fruits and a little bitterness inbetween..  the finish is more smooth malts, a nutty, hazelnut/pecan note with touches of toffee and caramel.  Wow.  This is a Brown on steroids..and by steroids I mean booze.. and nuts.. and toffee.. and more booze.
- - 9 Hops

Happy Thanksgiving Folks!