Review: Half Pints Le Temps Noir Imperial Stout

Review: Half Pints Le Temps Noir Imperial Stout by Cody La Bière
It seems like every month there seems to be a new beer coming out of Half Pints! Not that I'm complaining, because I love when something comes out by them! This time around it's Le Temps Noir, an imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. Oh, this should be a good one! Barrel-aged beer is the newest rage of breweries, but hey.. why wouldn't it be? it gives beer a nice whisky/rum/etc oakiness to the beer that wouldn't happen regularly otherwise.

Appearance: Pours the dark-as-night black like almost any other stout,a bit of a cola-esque brown hue. The head is minimal at best, a bit of a burnt caramel meets beige hue to it, clinging to the side of the glass.

Aroma: This is where the magic of the barrels come in - starts off with a bourbon oakiness that hits your nostrils followed by the aroma of roasted malts and stouty goodness - reminiscent of Pothole Porter and Stir Stick Stout, some coffee notes, but the oakiness of the barrels come out first and foremost.

Taste: Even before you swallow it, the very second it touches your lips, you already can tell HOLY FUCK, WHO THE HELL A BUNCH OF BOURBON IN MY BEER?! The bourbon barrels are very dominant, which I love! It reminds me of taking your favourite beer and adding a shot to it (the Corb Lund: pint of Phil's Pils and a shot of Crown Royal Black). Bourbon & oakiness overload.. yum yum! Sweet vanilla notes, a bitterness coming from the bourbon, a hint of coffee from the roasted malts. If you've never had a barrel aged beer, put a shot of bourbon in a yummy stout, or in a way.. have an Innis & Gunn.. most of their beers have a great barrel aged flavour to it (especially for being imported domestics).

Overall Thoughts: Incredibly solid, if barrel aged beers is your sort of thing - it sure isn't for everyone, especially those who aren't a fan of bourbon or whisky flavours, but for the standard beer geek - beer geeks will get giddy over this. It has 9.8% ABV and the flavour shows that right off the bat. Compared to Stir Stick and Pothole, this is easily my favourite out of the 3 by far. It's almost $10/bottle, but hey.. this is worth every cent, so buyyyy it!

halfpintsbrewing.com/

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