Review: Moersleutel Willy Tonka (Tonka & Chocolate) Imperial Stout

I still have a few cans of beer left from my trip to Netherlands/Belgium a few years back and I'm slowly opening them. Today's sampling is Moersleutel Craft Brewery's Willy Tonka Imperial Stout. They were doing a "Golden Ticket" contest when I picked this up.. I 100% bought this beer for the Willy Wonka theme to it, plus I love a good Imperial Stout.

From the can: With this Willy Tonka we added not 'just chocolate' but high quality cacao from Madagascar and Brazil. This first cacao bean has hints of fruit, honey, roasted nuts and leather. The second has woody and spicy tones with notes of dried dark fruits like raisins. Best served at a temperature of 12C. 12% ABV

Appearance: Thick dark stout, typical. The stout has a good burnt caramel brownish head on top as I pour it. The head diminishes pretty quickly, though there's a rim of bubbles still around long afterwards.

Aroma: Oh, I already know I'm going to like this! The first thing I got was a mild spiciness to it - a chili pepper sort of heat tickling my nostrils. There's notes of chocolate - lots of chocolate, a bit of a roasted malt presence that gives off a tad bit of coffee to it. There's also a bit of caramel. Not at all boozy but I'm wanting to gobble this up quickly.

Taste: The spice is there but it's not giving off any heat, so take that as you will. Quite sweet with a heavy creamy chocolate flavour to it, a light-to-moderate amount of roasted malt that gives off a tad bit of coffee/peat bitterness to it. There's a moderate bitterness for the aftertaste that's a combination of peat, pear and a bit of caramel. This is ridiculously smooth but I do get a bit of a booze burn as it warms up. 

Overall Thoughts: This is a 11/10 Stout. It's sweet, creamy, has a spiciness that's not hot, chocolatey - I'd love this over Christmas. This reminds me a bit of a few stouts I've had in the past such as Flying Monkeys' Chocolate Manifesto but with a bit of spice to it - Oddly enough I was able to find Chocolate Manifesto only a few minutes away from the bottle shop I bought this beer back in Netherlands.