I didn't drink a lot of beer this week. These days I never really drink "a lot" of beer I suppose, typically a maximum of two in any given week. This time I only had one. To be honest it was a bit of a strange beer also. It had a lot going on just to say the least. A lot of flavors that would seem like they would go together but somehow didn't. It had a sort of kids experiment-like quality to it for me. A concoction beer is what I would call it.
That all being said, lets check out a dark concoction that I drank for this #Beersaturday. Here we go!
Long Dark Voyage, Red Rocket, Spiced Imperial Stout
You see, even the name is a little out there.
Brewery: Sawdust Brewing Company
Origin: Gravenhurst ON Canada
Style: Spiced Imperial Stout
Abv: 9.5%
IBU: 60
SRM: 70
OG: 23P FG: 6.0P
Marketing: Gun metal black can with red accents on the lettering and imagery. Bubbly fun letter Style and rocket image drawn in a kids drawing kind of way. It's a playful and fun can that caught my attention in the store. It definitely stood out among the other beers for me. The can lists a good amount of information about the beer as well, including their partnership with Velvet Sunrise coffee Roasters. I always appreciate additional information on a beer. Overall I like the marketing on this one.
Color: The beer poured a dark opaque black color with a robust and creamy mocha colored head that stuck around for a long while and dissipated very slowly. Very little light came through this beer.
Nose: The beer had a very complex and pleasant aroma. It was a bouquet of sweet, floral and fruity all combined with notes of vanilla, milk chocolate and cinnamon.
Taste: This had a somewhat sweet taste upfront quickly followed by a strong spicy kick of heat from the cayenne pepper 🌶. The hot spiciness coated the tongue and lingered in the back of the throat for a while. I noticed a strong taste of alcohol underneath everything which might be expected given its high ABV.
Texture: Tiny bubble carbonation and full bodied for sure. It had a very heavy mouthfeel.
Impression: For me this was an overly complex beer that was almost confusing to the senses. It was like there was too much going on to fully comprehend it all. The spicy heat sort of masked everything but then the cinnamon and vanilla flavors and the alcohol started to come through a afterwards. I would categorize this as a Brewers experimental concoction for sure. I didn't dislike it but I would not buy it again, it was way too "out there," which might have been the point of it given it's name. Cool can but an awkward beer.
Quite a few of my beers are gone since last time. We had company over one of the days and so a couple were drank by guests. I still have a few more in there that I haven't tried yet so I'll likely have more to review next week. Until, then thanks for reading. Cheers everyone 🍻