Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

Big Bear Black Stout

Brewery: Bear Republic
Where: Healdsburg, California
Beer: Big Bear Black Stout
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
IBU: 68
ABV: 8.1%

It's been a while since I have had a good stout, so I decided to pick up a couple samples for my trials.  Yesterday, I was by Gail's Hops and Grapes and snagged this bomber of Bear Republic's Big Bear Black Stout.  This beer poured with the expected rich black color and was followed by a creamy tan-colored head that left beautiful lacing on the glass as I worked my way through this monster.  The initial aroma consisted of roasted coffee and some caramel notes with some very mild but subdued hop character.  This beer has a fantastically sweet malty character with very little presence of the 68 IBU provided by the hops in this recipe.  The hops only seem to be present in the mildly roasted and bitter after taste of this huge beer. 

My next homebrew is gonna be a beer of this style, but I'm shooting for the upper end of the alcohol scale.  I'm hoping to dial mine in around 11% and also push the IBU up to around 90.  It's gonna be the biggest beer I have brewed to date with a 21.5 lb grain bill and a pound of molasses to finish it off.  I hope to brew this upcoming beast before the weekend is over.  I'm not sure exactly which day I will get to brew yet.... we'll see...