Mikkeller Awful Gato Imperial Brown Ale with Vanilla and Coffee

Mikkeller Awful Gato Imperial Brown Ale with Vanilla and Coffee.
10.1 % ABV. Brewed and canned by Mikkeller SD, San Diego, CA.

Solid blackness, thin ring of cocoa foam. Looking good.

In the nose: Vanilla hits first, followed by cocoa. Nice and sweet. Coffee and cream, resting over a big ol' brown ale. I'm enjoying this.

In the mouth: The palate gets socked with massive malt, resplendent richness, and a healthy dose of sweet. Vanilla and coffee are in command. Full-bodied, rich, and ever so tasty. Smooth stuff, and flat out delicious. Go out and get some.

A big, luscious Imperial Brown base exuding layers of toasted crust, warm cocoa, and milk chocolate. Made sexy with the addition of espresso coffee and vanilla to imitate a comforting cup of affogato. Hence Awful Gato… you see what we did there? 

Oliphant Hungee for Goomungee

Oliphant Hungee for Goomungee. Rum Barrel aged Imperial Brown Ale, with maple syrup. 10 % ABV. Oliphant Brewing, Somerset, WI.

Beautiful brown color,  a bit murky, cocoa-tinged layer of foam.

In the nose: Sweet. Bourbon. Malty. Vanilla. Booze. Molasses. Maple. A whole lot going on around here.

In the mouth: Ah! I must have been very good to deserve this. Sweet, rich, succulent. Full bodied, full flavored. Brown ale meets bourbon, tasty meets delicious. This one has all the malty, molasses-y, maple-ish flavors I desire. Dee-frickin'-tasty, is what this is. But what is Goomungee? And why are we hungy for it? Dumb question.

there, now do you see?

rum barrel aged imperial brown sugar brown brown w/ maple syrup. 10% abv

Venn Brewing Oaked Imperial Brown Ale

Venn Brewing Oaked Imperial Brown Ale. What batch #, though? (56, a little research shows.)
9.4% aBV, 34 IBU. Venn Brewing,  Minneapolis, MN.

Some beers don't move as fast at the taproom. I was quite surprised to find this one still around when I bought this two weeks, since I first tried it back in July. Not everything's for everyone, but I'm surprised there aren't more Imperial Brown Ale fans in attendance. Guess I'd better hang out there a little more often, and be counted among fans of the style, such as it is. Let's drink it...

Clear, dark brown, with a lasting, slim tan head atop.

In the nose: caramel, toffee, cocoa...all kinds of richness and malt. And all that oak.

In the mouth: ah, now it all comes together. So smooth, semi-sweet, chocolatey, all those sweet notes, the caramel and toffee, rounded out by the oak. Ending nice and dry. Then along comes the booze. Quite nice.

Caramel/Bread Crust/French Oak. 

A bold, rich Imperial American-style Brown Ale aged on French oak.

Malts: Domestic Pale, Flaked Oats, CaraHell, Victory, Pale Chocolate, Caramel 60, Chocolate.
Hops: Warrior, Willamette.
Yeast:  American Ale.

Other: Medium Toast French Oak.

Sisyphus Churro Imperial Brown Ale

Sisyphus Churro Imperial Brown Ale. 8% ABV. 27 IBU.

Clear, bright crimson, near brown coloring, slim brownish head on top.

In the nose: malty, caramel, cinnamon (light).

In the mouth: Rich, spicy, malty, delicious. Mellow. Fine. Medium bodied. Cinnamon is mild on this one. It's there, though. Caramel malt, mild spice. I like it, it's tasty, and it goes down nice and easy. Pretty, pretty good.

I searched and searched and couldn't find any information on this one, other than those basic stats above. Nothing about what makes it "churro." I'm going to have to track down Sam and grill him on it. See what good that does me.

Northbound Snowmaggeddon Imperial Honey Brown Ale

At last the third in the snow trifecta is in my hands.....I've had Snownami, and Snowpocalypse, now the last in the trilogy:

Snowmaggeddon. Imperial Honey Brown Ale. 9.8% ABV. Northbound Brewpub, Minneapolis, MN.

Dark brown body, slim whitish head.

In the nose: mostly malty and rich, treacle. brown sugar. honey. Nice.

In the mouth: Rich and malty again, nicely balanced, not too sweet, not too bitter, just right. Leans towards the sweet, with flavors of molasses, dark fruits, becoming increasingly bolder, bigger, fiercer. Delicious. And, yeah, strong. A nice combination.

Snowmageddon is a 9.8% Imperial Honey Brown Ale that is sure to keep you toasty warm.

Sisyphus Flunker Barrel-aged Imperial Brown Ale

Sisyphus Flunker. Barrel-aged Imperial Brown Ale. 8% ABV. Sisyphus Brewing, Mpls., MN.

Deeply dark, impenetrable, with a slim black head of foam.

Aroma: all whiskey, vanilla, dark rum, rich and boozy. Big, beefy, rich and boozy. Slick and delicious.

In the mouth: big time whiskey, big vanilla, cocoa and smoke. Rich, but not too much. Full-ish bodied. Bigness and deliciousness, and very nice. Not the best barrel-aged ale out there, but not a bad parody, either.

"Some of friends at another brewery sold us this templeton rye barrel. It was originally destined to create a different beer, but it failed on that journey, and become the flunker, a barrel aged imperial brown ale."

Founders Sumatra Mountain Brown

Founders Sumatra Mountain Brow, Imperial Brown Ale brewed with Sumatra coffee. 9.0% Alc by Vol.  40 IBU. Founders Brewing, Grand Rapids, MI. Bottled on 4/05/16. (So, I'm a little late to this party.)

Dark brown coloring, slim, cocoa-tinged head, some loose particles floating about.

Aroma: Dark malts meet deep, rich coffee tones. Caramel, toffee, molasses, allspice, clove...little hints of each.

In the mouth: Chocolate malts hit first, then caramel, then all the richness hits. Here comes the sweetness, matched with bittersweet and coffee flavors. Full bodied. Nice balance, just enough hops to keep sweetness at bay. Tasty stuff, indeed.

Let's read the label, shall we? "This bold brown ale gets it's body from a team of malts, including caramel malt for sweetness, flaked barley for dense foam, a bit of chocolate malt for color, and aromatic and Munich malts for added depth. German and Perle hops add a touch of bitterness to balance the sweetness. The addition of rich Sumatra coffee takes this perfectly balanced brown ale to a decadent level."

Well, not quite decadent, but close enough. I prefer coffee beers as stouts or porters for that extra, added depth and decadence, but this suits me just fine.

Sisyphus Imperial Brown Ale

Sisyphus Imperial Brown Ale. 67 IBU. 7.7% ABV.

Clear, dark chestnut brown coloring, rich, creamy, off-white head. Looks beautiful.

Aromatics: nutty, malty, a little sweet. All the nuts are here, and they're having a party. Some cocoa rises up. Mmmm.

In the mouth: Delicious. Some bitterness up front, but this is mainly malt driven, with a good dose of cocoa and a helping of nuttiness. Bitterness keeps up with malt sweetness. Medium-bodied, not too thick and not too dense. Just deliciousness. So tasty. Ever so tasty.

One of my favorite Sisyphus brews so far. And I like a lot of 'em.

Olde Hickory Daniel Boone

Olde Hickory Brewery Daniel Boone, Ale Aged in Oak Bourbon Barrels. 8.5% Alc./Vol. Brewed and bottled by Olde Hickory Brewing, Hickory, North Carolina.

Extra black, extra dark. With a slim whitish ring of foam above.

Aroma: straight-up bourbon, with flickers of cocoa, molasses and more. Vanilla. tobacco. black cherry.

Taste: It's all there again, the flavors from the nose jumping on board the palate, the full body, the richness, the bourbon flavors, cocoa, the toasty oak, the sweet, sweet liquor. Tasty stuff, but the question returns from the last bourbon barrel beer I'd had, where the original beer was not a known entity. Maybe the label will tell me?

"New Frontier Beer. Boone, traveling through Kentucky on his way to the frontier, need a place to store his beer. He placed an imperial brown in discarded bourbon barrels. Months later he had an amazing beer that would cellar well. And so a legend was born. (* Events presented here are not factual, but are based on actual events. In our dreams. After sampling the beer a few times.) Cheers!"

So, there you go. Imperial brown ale, eh? Not my favorite venue for bourbon barrel-aging. The flavors in the beer are utterly swamped and smothered by the barrel effects. Another case where you are drinking whiskey in the form of beer. Imperial brown ale will bring some flavor, some depth, and the booze, but not enough to really provide character, beyond what's brought by the barrels.

Much thanks to Matthew for bringing it over on my birthday.