Happiness is an Imperial Stout

John and I had dinner at the Foundry tonight, starting the evening off with a couple of glasses from Kansas City's only keg of Left Hand's Smokejumper. It's fantastic - I highly recommend getting a glass before it's gone. This is a smoked imperial porter done right - Smokey, smooth, creamy, bitter, and chocolatey, it's wonderful. 

We went to Gomer's in midtown after our visit, in search of Sierra Nevada's brand new Torpedo, with no success. They also did not have Boulevard's latest special release, the Imperial Stout. They do, however, have several bottles of the Saison-Brett. According to a coworker of mine, they recently found 5 cases of it in the back they did not realize they had. Nice find.

We hopped back into the car and trekked on down to Royal Liquors off State Line, looking for Torpedo and the Imperial Stout. 50% success isn't bad - we picked up Royal's last two 750ml bottles of Boulevard's Imperial Stout as well as a mixed 6-pack. We got home a few minutes later and popped open the stout.

Appearance - black, nice brown head, heavy on the lacing

Aroma - sweet, strong alcohol smell, oakey

Mouthfeel - soft, creamy, almost custard-like. 

Taste - initially bitter, up-front aggressive dark chocolate, followed by a raisin sweetness, and ending with lingering hops.

Boulevard used malted barley, wheat, oats, rye, and spelt in this brew. Supposedly, spelt lends a pillowy mouthfeel to beer. If that's truly the case, its presence is possibly noted. (Who's to say, though, if that's the oats or wheat instead.)

This is without a doubt my favorite Boulevard beer to date. I enjoyed the BBQ quite a bit, but it seemed like it needed a bit more time to age. Same with the Saison-Brett (and to a greater extent). The stout is perfect right now, right out of the bottle. And right in my glass.