Baird Dark Sky Imperial Stout (9%)

Well, I thought yesterday was a good day with getting off work early and getting tickets to an Eddie Vedder show in Melbourne for March. Okay, today I still did a full day, but was able to work by myself today which was kinda nice without Joel getting in my way. Too bad it meant Tim wasn't in a good enough state to work with me...Anyway, when I got home found out my favourite band are only doing one headline show while in Australia, so have just bought tickets to it. Just means I need to be in Adelaide in Feb to see it. Guess that means will have to visit the Wheatsheaf while I am over there...Damn, this just keeps getting worse.

Anyway, to drown my sorrows (ha), as a final thanks to Tim, and as a congratulations to Jaimi Faulker for a great year he has had, have the final beer to have before my birthday celebrations start tomorrow.

There is a definite dark fruit and alcohol smell from this beer which seems to be fairly standard with this style of beer. The taste starts out pretty promising and there is a decent texture to go with it. The alcohol is there, but there is something else, like a hop, that is too intense a flavour to blend with everything else. This comes in from the midpalate and stays long into the aftertaste. I think the style of hop is fine, but it has just been overused to take up too much of the taste profile. Unfortunately this ruins the beer for me personally, and even the alcohol doesn't help that much (well, it may after a little while. It is a 750ml bottle!). The hops even 'water' the beer, removing the nice body I get at the beginning.

So, I am guessing there is about 6 standard drinks in this bottle, so that is enough to get me to finish off this beer. Not even this beer can get me down at the moment. I also have 4 days til i am next working...

Cheers,

Beef