5Day Imperial Stout Spree: Day 3.

The sun is shining on this lazy Sunday afternoon, it's time for another Imperial Stout hit to continue on this journey... and it's my 250th post too, Woop!

Today's edition comes quite similar to yesterday's. Same size 25cl bottle. Same finishing production being aged in Cognac barrels. Similar sort of strength too at 10.9%... but twice the price of the Nogne O, coming in at £12.19.

It's time to indulge in some Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel Imperial Oatmeal Stout aged in Cognac Barrels... or, you know, MBGBWIOSCB for short.... whew!

Much different in appearance to the previous Nogne O. Perfect conditioning is obvious with the beautiful dark tan head forming and lasting outright. Aromas are desert personified.

Vanilla, dark chocolate, espresso, Brandy with caramel, cocoa powder, a little wood and dark dried fruits. It's absolutely fantastic.

As I hold it up in the light it looks like a block of solid black jet, it's quite amazing, time to dive in. This works really well together, I think it's the addition of the weasel coffee that bulks out the body and manages to bring the whole thing together. The rich decadence is positively alive with flavour; rich forest fruits, oaky presence, black treacle and obvious drying Cognac. Bitter chocolate, with the oats working really well here too.

It's easily the pick of the bunch so far, but there's just something about my personal tastes that say to me that Brandy barrels (be it Cognac, Armagnac or other) just do not work as well as Whisky barrels when it comes to beer aging. It's probably just because I prefer my Scotch to my Brandy though....

What about the price though? 12 quid for a 25cl bottle of beer? A couple of years back I would of expected it to be a limited addition of about 500 bottles for that price. I looked at the possible reasons for cost in the Nogne O bottle, and this is a very similar beer. Could the sole reason it's twice the price factor in from the cost of this weasel coffee?? I can't be sure, I just know it's pretty damn good. Would I buy again though?

No. Once is enough at that price.

Join me tomorrow when things start to get really expensive, from a pretty local brewery too!