Tasting Lagunitas High West-ified Imperial Coffee Stout

The High Westified Imperial Coffee Stout from Lagunitas is a nice big boss of a beer that came in at a 12.2% ABV and 39 IBU. This beer is yet one more to join their OneHitter Series, which although I mentioned in the video, may actually not be back. I do hope so though, as it was initially introduced in 2015.That being said, this beer provided a lot of good things in its complexity. The aging in the High West Rye Barrels brings some good flavor to the beer and you get the rye coming right out of the glass which such ease. Capped by a tannish head, the beer had a nice darkness to it with some nice reddish tones. And the taste was well balanced and offered a nice creamy texture that provided solid mouth coating and a nice mouthfeel. Caramel and toffee like in its sweetness matched along with the chocolate and coffee in its notes just paired together just about perfectly. There will be a little booziness but that’s okay with this offering, it’s there to just let you know to slow down. A nice beer indeed, my Untappd rating on this one was 4.25 out of 5 on this very good beer.

Brewer Notes:

Ale Brewed with Coffee and then Aged in High West Whiskey Barrels…

This beer couldn't have been done without the help from our friends at High West Distillery in Park City, UT and Chicago's-own Metropolis Coffee. We brewed a rich, malty Imperial Stout with some of Metropolis' Spice Island blend, then let it vintag-ize in High West Rye and Bourbon Barrels for up to 17 FREAKING MONTHS. It's good to have friends!

Nectar from the source, from cast-against-type Utah. Latent heat of evaporation causes apparitions to rise up the column. They rise and condense and cooly run off. Oak barrels, just wood, made magic by a higher power, filled to the bung for a time are then drained. Potential energy. The desire to fall. The barrels rolled west downslope out of north central Utah, outta 6,780 ft County of Summit, into the Basin, past the temptations of Wendover, across basin through range, escaping the Great Humboldt Sink, climb the Cretateous subduction's saw-faced batholitic intrusion, down the Smartville Ophiolite through the gentle Coast Range onto delta, landing gently in Petaluma, where we just plain filled them with beer. That's all there is to it. C'mon by and hang with us sometime. Now with two locations for your convenience..!

ABV: 12.2%
IBU: 39.6
O.G. 1.115
Introduced: 2015
Availability: December 2016 – January 2017
Sold As: 12 Oz. / On Tap