Magic Rock Brewing Co, Barrel Aged Bearded Lady

I think that this was the drink that really kick started a drive to sample imperial stouts for me. I drank my first bottle (perhaps somewhat incongruously at the height of summer. I've started to get into saisons as the winter is settling in, think I've got my season pairings back to front somehow...!), of this back at the beginning of August, way before I deliberately started to search out any other similarly styled drinks. After the Un-human Cannonball (bottles of that stored waiting for review + relatively 'special' photo idea) I kind of had the geek-greed for this special edition bottle, so I bought 2 just in case (courtesy of the good folk at Mr Lawrence).

It poured thick and opaque - almost purple. I'd never smelt anything like this before, bitter and dark chocolate, used coffee, liquorice and boozy aromas. The taste for me had all this plus some more wet coffee grounds, the faint tinge of whisky right at the edges, and some hard grape bits - possibly brandy-ish? Peppery smoked meat tinges??

Mouth feel very smooth despite decent carbonation, you could feel the alcohol slightly on the gums (I good thing I think) and a very gentle bitter after. For my 2nd glass from the bottle it was nice to have a Maoam on the side just to sweeten the edge off.

I've had more whisky-er impy stouts since this one (most notable the Kernel BA Glen Spey), but in it's 660ml presentation, wax seal and beautiful bottle graphics, this had an air of occasion about it that adds to the drinking experience. Of course the limited nature of it helped too, plus the hype online and on the Magic Rock website.

Having said that: there's a contingent of electronic music producers/labels that release very rare tunes on a very limited run of vinyl and this alienates those who will never be able to get hold of it. (The vinyl then inevitably appears on discogs at silly, well over-inflated prices). I saw on twitter that beer releases such as this one and the Un-human Cannonball from Magic Rock can have the same effect. I was fortunate to get both, but I think I'd prefer them to be more available, if only to drive down the price a little bit. (Obviously, the rarity adds to the desirability...a double edged sword I suppose.) £12 for 660ml of 10.5% liquid is certainly high. A similar amount of money will get you A Chateauneuf du Pape. It seems that's where we're at with this type of strong beer (leaving aside tax issues on creating beers above 7.4% abv). It is certainly a sting on the wallet, but I for one, am more or less content to pay these prices. For comparison, Kernel did a BA impy at £6/330ml, Mikkeller obviously take the piss even more (and on tap: Even More Jesus from Evil Twin at £13/pint...). Whatever, vote with your wallet I suppose.