Midnight Sun Berserker Imperial Stout

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Anchorage, Alaska USA

22 oz. bottle thanks to Scrizzz. Holy shit, thank you so much for sending this. Wow, that is a chocolate head. There is not much of it, but this thing pours like oil...big time. I mean people say, "Oh this poured just like oil." This really did pour like oil. Very viscous beer. Wood, roast, coffee, and a slight chocolate aroma. Wow, a very deep complex aroma. Nice subtle bourbon aroma that is coming out more as this thing warms up. Pretty damn nice aroma I must say. Love the bourbon. Ah the wood a liquor aroma. I have to say that subtle bourbon, wood, chocolate, coffee, and roast aroma are just so complex. So smooth, and easy to drink. I mean this thing has a nice bourbon sour flavor as well. This thing is so smooth and too delicious. My favorite beer. Again, thank you Scrizzz.

Bottle from Hannont. OH MY GOD. They should rename this beer Daknole. This IS my new favorite beer. Wow. And wow again. Pours super dark brown color wtih a rich chocolate brown head. This beer looks amazing. and it doesn’t stop there. The aroma is just amazing. Tons of chocolate fudge, sweet brown sugar, vanilla, oak, light bourbon, molasses, and the mouthfeel is just ridiculous. Perfect 5. I hearby offer a plea for MORE MORE MORE!

What can I say that hasn’t been said about this absolute gem? Well, forstarters, it’s smoother and less hot than Bourbon County, it’s more complex and cleaner than The Abyss, and it’s more drinkable and rounder than Bells Expedition...in short, it’s my new favorite imperial stout, hands down. What truly astounds me is how this thick and viscous monster managed to avoid being cloyingly sweet with only 30 IBUs. Wow...just wow!

Midnight pour topped by a thin, sanguine-brown layer of ultra-fine foam. Nose reveals sweet gingerbread molasses, alderwood smoke, buttered hearth-bread, tanned leather, and ’roasted bison’. Flavor reflects the nose, then adds bourbon-soaked cherries, earthy tannins, and a hint of oak. Mouthfeel is moderately viscous (I was actually expecting it to be a bit thicker) and makes for a nice, rich finish. The alcohol is certainly noticeable, but melds extremely well with the amalgam of complex flavors, making it dangerously drinkable. One of the aspects that I enjoy most is that the roasted nuances come across more like charred fire-wood and smoked meats rather than the typical coffee-like flavors we are often bombarded with. I am also impressed with how the richness stems from unique elements rather than the syrupy sweetness that other imperial stouts tend towards. This is a fantastic brew, and in my opinion, one of the slightly overlooked gems of the style. Even if it isn’t quite from Scandinavian soil, this brew from the far north is surely worthy of Hadding!

2005 bomber, generously provided by OldGrowth on 1/22/06. Served well-chilled to begin with, but allowed to warm up to room temperature.
Fairly vigorous pour yields a large amount of tan, graham cracker colored head that forms of a multitude of ultra-fine bubbles that are slow to settle out. Head is lasting, dense and provides a fair amount of lacing (though on OldGrowth’s glass, the head was neither well-retained, nor did it lace). The body is opaque. Deepest of brown-blacks with magenta-violet tinges right at the surface and edges.
The nose is perhaps the most subtle, but richly rewarding I have smelled on a beer. At first, I mistake it for a weak nose, albeit full of delightful milk chocolate. However, it is truly anything but weak. Allowing the beer to warm fully and breath, a delicate vanilla and light woodiness emerges, aided by a graceful drying whiskey note that is only lightly apparent. Notes of Spanish coffee, brought on by a moderate roast with further sweet chocolate overtones round out the balanced aroma. Faint charred wood, adding a zip of acidity and drying bitterness puts the finishing touches on the aroma. The oak/whiskey in the nose is so well integrated with the rest of the beer, it almost feels as if the oak and whiskey character were a note imparted by the brewing of the beer.
Hardly being able to hold myself back any longer, I take a long and curious mouthfull. Damn. This is beer. Chocolate, light roast, bits of dry barley graininess, sweetened molasses and certainly more toffee, prunes and plums all explode on the palate. Perhaps explode isn’t the right word, as the flavors are neither forceful nor overdone, but they are just so vibrant and homogenized. Light whiskey dryness, in the perfect medium of sweet caramel-chocolate-toffee, is carried from start to finish while the charred wood note emerges towards the end and further emphasizes the style. Light peanut skins, vanilla, bits of cocoa and finally a sweeping (but balanced!) ending of prunes, toffee, chocolate and whiskey. Texture is so perfect, you don’t even think about it. Tight, engaging, low carbonation, but ample enough to keep the beer from becoming anywhere near too sweet or sluggish. Alcohol provides light warming tones on the end, and is masterfully masked. Creamy, at times chewy and malty. Reminds me a lot of Orval. It’s just what beer is all about. Something about this beer is so compelling and yet so simple, it just screams "Enjoy me!" and proves very difficult to concentrate on.
Yes, it is a low key example, I suppose. Certainly nothing in your face, and the aroma must be worked at to unlock its mysteries. But what does low key really mean? Beer shouldn’t be about quantity. This is quality if I’ve ever seen it. It may even be mistaken for a lighter example, but then, taking in to account its ABV, it is a difficult stance to maintain. It’s just so elegantly done, so subtle that it comes off that way. And don’t even get me started on the barrel aging of this beer. It is (in my mind) the model all other bourbon beers should follow. Barrel character is just an aspect, rather than the dominant character.

22 oz 2008 bottle (opened in Nov 2008). Pours a deep motor oil black with a large creamy deep brown head that left tons of lacing. This what a big rich Imperial Stout should look like! Aroma of cocoa powder, rich roasted malt, dark chocolate, bourbon, oak, molasses, light alcohol, touch of some citrusy hops, vanilla and deep dark cherries. Flavor of rich roasted malts, coffee, vanilla, light whiskey, oak, tart cherries, molasses, chocolate, some hop bitterness, abv well hidden, smooth and creamy yet enough carbonation so that you know this massive beer is still in fact a beer. One of the best Imperial Stouts I have had. I was a little worried opening this bottle so early on, but I guess the time it had to sit in the oak whiskey casks have really helped this beer out and turned it into an amazing beer. Drink the 2008’s now...they are ready and tasking amazing!

Bottle. Very special thanks to danielcurtis81 for sharing on his wedding week. Pours pitch black with a think cake-like dark brown head. Nose is dark roasted malt, chocolate and some molasses/brown sugar that is off-the-hook. Taste is thick, full, heaty with some dark chocolate malt and somewhat of a salt & pepper spice to it. Very nice and very thick.

2008 bottle courtesy of, "AKfaust". Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah, hallelujah, halle-lu-u-u-jah!!! Is this fantastic stuff or what?! Colour... infinitely black with a corpulent tan head. Nose... exuding anise, dark roasted coffee, DARK chocolate, molasses and dried, dark fruits. Palate.... chewy, thick, unctuous, viscous, Pedro Ximenez Solera ’27 and Christmas pudding, from the dark side. Finish... loooooooooong and resonant. All hail the Midnight Sun crew!