Brewery – Listermann/Triple Digit with Hoppin’ Frog
Beer – Barrel Aged Stuff
Style – Imperial Stout with Vanilla, Chocolate, Cinnamon, and Peppers
ABV – 10%
You may or may not remember that we did a collaboration with Hoppin’ Frog over a year ago called Stuff. The beer is an imperial stout with chocolate, vanilla beans, cinnamon and peppers. We made some more of it and stuck it in bourbon barrels and are ready to set it free!
It was back in August of 2015 when Listermann and Hoppin’ Frog first got together to brew this collaboration up. The first release of it was a hit when it came out in bottles in October of 2015, but it wouldn’t be Listermann/Triple Digit if they didn’t try to stash some of it away in whiskey barrels.
This release is 12oz bottles of the barrel aged version of the beer. Long awaited… Loved… Delicious… This is Listermann’s take on a Mole Stout, and I have to give them props for nailing it on a lot of different fronts. This is a great beer. It’s full of a ll the Vanilla, Chocolate, Cinnamon and Pepper flavors that you want in a Mole, but none of them are too overpowering over the others. It’s a balanced beer that still manages to smack you in the face with flavor.
Here’s to hoping that we see more collaborations between the two breweries, because if this is any sign of what they can do when they get together… I need more.
My Thoughts On Triple Digit Barrel Aged Stuff
If there is one thing that I can say about Triple Digit, the offshoot brand of Listermann, it’s that they know their barrel aging. This barrel aged version of their big Imperial Mole Stout is a perfect example of that. For me, this blows the base version away in terms of my enjoyment. This beer pours black as night into my glass with a thin, light tan head on top.
Aromas are mostly the cinnamon and chocolate that they added to it, but if you dig your nose into the glass you can find the peppers hiding away in there too.
Flavor is balanced incredibly. I always worry about the pepper balance in my beers when I hear that they were added, and this one uses them really nicely. There is a vegetal flavor that uses the peppers without obliterating your tastebuds with heat. The barrel adds a fantastic wood note, and some vanilla to the profile, making this taste much more dessert-like than I anticipated it was going to be.
It’s a sipper, with its heavy body and higher ABV, but it’s a pleasure to do so, making my night that much more enjoyable with a glass of this by my side!