Goose Island - Night Stalker Imperial Stout

I've been watching for this Goose Island Night Stalker to appear on a shelf, and I finally found it yesterday!  It's been raved about by a couple of my beer-loving buddies, so I'm excited to have the opportunity to try it tonight.  This is a hop-heavy imperial stout from Goose Island that delivers 11.7%ABV, 60 IBUs, and is recommended to cellar for 5+ years.  Since my patience equals that of a 5 year old, that's just not going to happen.  Also, it is the same base beer as the Bourbon County Stout, except instead of aging it in bourbon barrels, they dry-hop it!

The label on this bottle is awesome - a rising (or setting) moon on a dark cloudy evening, with a dark background and faint lettering - it's a perfect way to set the tone for the brew.  Also, this beer was bottled on 3/6/2010, so it's had over a year to develop and mature.

The beer is going into my snifter glass, it's a black-hole color with a deep, dark tan head that recedes slowly.  The nose is the real deal - huge chocolate notes mixed with some fruity hop flowers, and hints of vanilla.  Alcohol also makes a big appearance in their - but I keep going back to the chocolate and the surprising amount of hops in the smell.  The first sip....first thing that comes to mind is, RICH!  Full of roasty chocolate, smooth vanilla and licorice.  Then we journey into a layer of bittering hops, which aren't nearly as prominent as the nose indicated.  Transition from there to an alcohol warmth that compliments the other flavors nicely, keeping them from overwhelming the palate.  From the middle to the finish, there is a sweet chewy caramel flavor, delicious.  The finish brings a brief reminder of the dry-hopping they did for this stout, again not as much as I expected, but definitely noticeable and pleasant.  The body is thick, sticky and syrupy, and the carbonation is appropriately low for the style.

Overall Rating:  (5.6 out of 6.0)  This is certainly among the top stouts I've ever tasted.  I'm not sure that I would agree with the claim that this is a 'hoppy imperial stout' - the hops are present but they don't play as prominent a role as I expected.  This could easily be due to the 1+ year of aging?   But that doesn't change the fact that this was a fantastic beer, a must-have for those of you that like big and bold stouts.  


**Side Note:  Let's hope Anheuser-Busch doesn't ruin the quality brand that Goose Island has built!  I'm going to hold my tongue here and give GI the benefit of the doubt, that they can hold true to quality and not fall prey to the cost-cutting ways of big-beer.  I won't call them sell-outs unless their beer starts to taste like crap.