Weyerbacher - Tiny

Recently my life has been consumed by an exam that is known for crushing souls, ruining relationships, and sucking every last drop of energy from those who attempt the curriculum.  I am talking of the Certified Financial Analyst designation.  Last week I began my studies for this multi year exam series.  The information is packed into six college sized text books, which doesnt include the five additional supplemental text books I bought to "consolidate" the information.  Yes, 11 friggen books that need to be read through, learned, and tested on by June 4th.  God bless America...  The reason why I say this is because it means that beer will no longer be as prominent in my life as it once were.  Dunz will be doing a majority of the reviews from here on out until I finish my test.  Every once in a while I will sneak in a review.  But for the most part, Dunz is your guy running the show.  So with that... onto the review!

Tonights brew is one that I purchased a while ago and never really had the urge to crack it open until tonight.  Weyerbacher's Tiny is a Belgian styled imperial stout.  That description immediately caught my attention at the store.  I like Belgian beers, I love imperial stouts... logic reasons that I must love this beer!  This bomber is capped with a cork and made from some pretty sturdy glass.  I imagine this is to mimic most Belgian style beer bottles on the market today.  The label has a metallic sheen overlaying a faint, lion crest with stars in the background.  Very intriguing.  Lets see what it has in store.

The pour is a thick, viscous black with a deep brown head.  It reminded me of oil flowing from a canister but thicker.  Im already giddy to taste it!  Its still pretty cold from my fridge but I can easily smell a dark fruity aroma backed up by mild roastiness and a hint of alcohol.  Its 11.8% ABV so the alcohol presence is to be expected.  My first sip is nice and thick as expected.  Belgian yeast strains tend to take over a beers flavor and aroma, as designed, but this flavor profile manages to restrain it a bit.  A flavorful blend of dark caramelized fruit, cocoa and roast come together to make a taste that I dont think I have experienced in a beer before.  The carbonation is a little high for a stout.  I imagine this is a nod to the Belgian style once again.  Some smokiness comes through towards the end.  Although I do have a fire going in the fireplace so the smokiness may be coming from that.  The finish is dry and has a very slight alcohol warmth on its way down.  As this brew warms subtler notes from the stout show up such as vanilla, chocolate and a mild sweetness to the body.

Overall 4.9/6.0 - This was a solid brew.  I had been craving an imperial stout for quite some time and to have one with a nicely integrated Belgian twist added to the profile made it even more enjoyable.  The flavor profile is unique and perfect for those of you who like the characteristics of a dark Belgian ale and smooth, thick and bold imperial stouts.  My biggest gripe is that the carbonation was a bit too high.  Now that I no longer have the liberty to drink as many beers as I used to I find myself looking for brews that will give me something outside the normal style box or are very well crafted.  This falls into both of those categories and will be one that I'd like to try again in the very near future.


Update - As this beer warmed the carbonation started to get in the way of all the flavors I could perceive when it was cold.  The sweetness also started to show up a lot more too.  I originally rated this as a 5 when I started the review but as I let it warm the beer started to take a turn for the worst.  Still very drinkable and enjoyable while warm but I would definitely serve this one chilled and drink it while cold.