I’ll be upfront with this so the haters don’t call me a shill- Kristie of Two Girls is a Smutt peddler now and works for Smuttynose. Lucky for me, I get to enjoy all of the fringe benefits this entails- Smuttoberfest, having her come to my area more often to hit up accounts which usually means getting together for a beer, getting Smuttty at our local beerfests, and samples of Smuttlabs offerings.
Tonight I’m enjoying The Stallion – an 11% imperial stout aged in red wine barrels, from Smuttlabs up in Hampton, NH.
Kristie says: “I looooooove Stallion. You can write that.” And I can see why she does. It pours an opaque deep brown with hints of red in the right light and traces of a tan head that quickly disappears. It’s a lightly carbonated, medium bodied drink. The red wine really comes across in the aroma and it almost reminds me of a sherry. It has a warm finish, but not overpowering and hints of dark stone fruits are noticeable.
A lot of people said they got hints of licorice and coffee- maybe my palate is broken, but as someone who throws out every black jellybean I have to disagree. If you try it let me know what you think.
I think this one would age well and plan on picking up a second bottle so I can do just that. I’ll let you know in a few years how that worked out for me.
Filed under: Barrel-Aged, Beer Reviews, Imperial Stout, Uncategorized
