Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout
Tampa Bay, Florida

Cigar City Brewing Company is a bastion of craft brewing in southern Florida. Cultural influences of the Tampa Bay area leak into Cigar City’s brewing resulting in experimental styles with unique ingredients. According to Mayan mythology, Hunahpu brought the gift of cocoa to the Mayan people. The Hunahpu by Cigar City is a more decadent version of their classic Marshall Zhukov Imperial Stout. The Hunahpu takes that stout as a base and ages it with pasilla and ancho peppers, adding Madagascar vanilla beans, cinnamon, and cocoa nibs. The result is a jet black liquid with the consistency of motor oil. Whiffs of licorice, alcohol, espresso and chocolate waft up the nose. Goes down smooth despite an 11% ABV. The Zhukov has more roasted bitterness than Hunahpu, while the Hunahpu has more chocolate flavor. The spices added to the mix from the chilies are subtle and delicious, coming out at the long, peppery finish. Velvet, moist chocolate cake flavors lingers over a pleasant alcohol warmth and 80 IBU bite.

Deschutes The Abyss
Bend, Oregon

Deschutes Brewery was founded by Gary Fish in 1988 as a small brewpub. By 2010, Deschutes was the fifth-largest craft brewery in the U.S., riding the craft beer wave on their quality beers. The Abyss is a Special Reserve Series brew available only for a limited time during the winter. Abyss is an appropriate name since the beer is rather viscous and permits absolutely no visibility of light through its dark colored body. Ingredients include licorice and molasses that become extremely evident in the sweet aromas. 33% of this beer is aged in French oak barrels and oak bourbon barrels. Extremely rich and complex in taste, with hints of licorice playing over the smooth oaky flavors and overlying boozy finish. Abyss sucks you into sweet, toffee, vanilla, semi-sweet chocolate and raisin driven goodness. It sports an 11% ABV, and is a fine sipping beer with a cigar or decadently rich dessert.

Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout
Grand Rapids, Michigan

The CBS is a new addition to the Founders Brewing Backstage Series. A combination of fine, imported chocolates and coffees formulate this richly flavored Imperial Stout. Aged in bourbon barrels that have most recently contained pure Michigan maple syrup. CBS is extremely smooth, inordinately sweet and exceptionally rich. The body is as thick as a milkshake and just as creamy. The molasses-like quality of the maple honey flavor interplays nicely with the bitter chocolate. An ample bite of bitterness comes in on the end, providing the perfect accompaniment to a fine cigar.

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel
København, Denmark

Mikkell Borg Bjergsø is a Danish gypsy brewer that has an obsession with high quality beers crafted from the finest ingredients. He travels around spreading beer love and the gospel of craft beer, but he doesn’t have his own brewery. Beer Geek Brunch Weasel is an imperial stout brewed at the Nøgne Ø brewing facility in Arendal, Norway. The rich dark ale is made with the world’s most expensive coffee beans that have been sifted out of the droppings of weasel-like civet cats. Southeast Asian civet cats eat and digest only the choicest berries that are ripe and ready. These rare coffee beans are strong in taste, highly aromatic and very acidic. There are tons of burnt malt, bitter coffee aromas and flavors on this 10.9% ABV stout. A mellow citrus hop flavor up front that is almost completely overridden by pungent coffee flavors. Perfect with a scoop of coffee ice cream.

North Coast Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
Fort Bragg, California

North Coast Brewing Company pays tribute to the original ales shipped from England to the Russian Imperial Courts with their Old Rasputin Stout. Accompanied by flavors that never fade and a 9% ABV, this stout packs a wallop. “Old Raspy” has a thin, nutty brown head and rich sweet aroma. A combination of roasted malts and chocolate flavors conceal a very warming, bitter taste. A fine balance of coffee bitterness, bold cocoa flavors and a hop bite in the back leaves the palate craving for desserts to pair with. This big stout is a great addition to a moist chocolate cake or rich pudding.

Oskar Blues Ten FIDY
Lyons, Colorado

Oskar Blues Brewing Company describes their big imperial stout as, “the beer equivalent of decadently rich milkshake made with whopper malted-milk balls and heaven’s best chocolate ice cream.” It has a quickly dissipating chestnut-brown colored head with aromas of malt chocolate and licorice. There is a surprising hop bitterness that cuts through everything up front. The bitterness continues from roasted malts, as well. As the name Ten FIDY implies, it’s at 10.50% ABV. Warm with alcohol flavor on the finish, but never overly boozy. Made with two-row malts, chocolate malts, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. The hop bite provides a 98 IBU bitterness reading. Wave after wave of chocolate goodness fills every sip. Ten FIDY is the best stout in a can.

Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout
Munster, Indiana

This Russian Imperial Stout from Three Floyds Brewing Company has its own day devoted to it. On the day that this beer is available for sale at the brewery there are ticket raffles for vintage beers, tailgating parties and plenty of drinking. Highly devoted beer fans make this event a sold out success every year, released each April with different colored wax-dipped tops marking the year or vintage. The Dark Lord is worth the hype, too. Black as night, this stout weighs in at a walloping 15% ABV. Dark Lord is brewed with “Intelligensia” coffee, vanilla beans and molasses. A very dark, dense ale shows tons of coffee flavors from roasted chocolaty malts. The coffee rides in waves over vanilla, with a light chocolate base and a boozy bite seeping in at the end of each sip. Barrel aged versions of this ale are also available.