Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice. Whether you refer to it as Midwinter, The Longest Night or The First Day of Winter one thing is certain this one dark day.
On this day before the darkest day of the year, it seems appropriate that two unique dark beers should debut to warm our inner beer geek.
Today's first beer was born from Outer Darkness, an Imperial Stout that was first released two years ago today. Brewed over five months ago, Barrel of Russians Imperial Stout (B.O.R.I.S) takes that same beloved recipe and combines it with Utah's own High West Rye Whiskey barrels. The result is a complex blend of toffee, bourbon, oak, hazelnut, vanilla, caramel, milk chocolate, and alcohol.
The Winter Solstice lasts only a moment in time, the same goes for this beer. Only available at Squatters Brewpubs.
Our second release comes from what may be one of the most prolific breweries in the nation. Utah's Epic Brewing.
Epic seems to release a new beer every month, their newest release dates it's heritage back many centuries to Germanic monasteries who called this specially made beer" liquid bread", due to it's high caloric nature. When your mother told you, "don't fill up on bread"! This is NOT the type of bread she was talking about.
Epic's Double Skull is full of solid malt, dark fruit and fruitcake that fades very nicely into slight char and chocolates. There is a special release party for Double Skull, tonight at the Poplar Street Pub. It will subsequent be available everywhere Epic Exponential Series is sold.
Even though it's looking to be a dreary day, I have a feeling many beer lovers may not notice.
Cheers!
6 comments:
I'm giddy as a school boy for these!
Got some, still at work and hain't tried it yet. Can I get a report from some lucky bastard...Doug?
Great roasty and chocolate profile. It is a little boozy though. Don't drink it too cold, it's better warm. It will defiantly improve with age.
Thanks Mikey! I cracked open a B.O.R.I.S last night and it was damn tasty. I let it warm up first and it was really smooth. It certainly screams out to be poured on some ice cream.
Now how about the Double Skull. Anyone hit the release event last night?
Kent, the Barrel of Russians was very nice. I got a lot of spicy rye whiskey, some milky and dark fruit malt elements, very warm. My full review is on ratebeer of course. It was very nice! I'd like to see a wine barrel, port barrel and bourbon barrel version as well.
A pretty nice, light, smooth porter for a mild winter night. We enjoy them straight out of the tap
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