It’s 10:30PM on a Saturday night while I’m writing this review. 24 hours ago, the G-LO crew was still in the air, i.e. we were flying home from our week long vacation in Walt Disney World. While I had every intention of doing some booze and craft beer research during our time away, the truth is that I didn’t have all that much time to myself, so other than a bit of beertography every now and again, I didn’t get any “work” done. Since tonight is the first time in 7 days that I’m actually awake at this hour (amusement parks are exhausting, and I was usually passed out by 9:30PM), I decided to finally get back to “work”, and since temperatures were in the 40s today, I’ve decided to spend some time with something that will hopefully pair beautifully with the seasonal temperatures.
Whenever I think of Goose Island Stouts, the first thing that comes to mind is their Bourbon County series of Stout beers (high octane and barrel aged). As of this writing, I have only had their Bourbon County Coffee Stout, and since it was such a positive drinking experience, I didn’t hesitate in picking up the bottle of Goose Island’s The Muddy Imperial Stout that you see in the above photo. Here’s what Goose Island has to say about The Muddy:
Brewed with molasses, brewer’s licorice, and Belgian dark rock candi sugar, The Muddy is an imperial stout with amplified sweetness for a taste as distinctive as the Chicago blues that inspired its creation.
As you can see in the above photo, there’s isn’t much in the way of a frothy head or lacing with this beer, but it definitely has the dark, mahogany color that is typical of a stout. While it may not be a super photogenic beer, the nose on this one is a completely different story. Dark, rich, and robust are three words to describe how it smells. I’m getting caramelized brown sugar, dark chocolate, and a healthy dose of Panda black licorice.
All of the deliciousness that comes through in the nose carries through to the palate. The Muddy has a light and somewhat fizzy carbonation, and the mouthfeel is medium bodied, i.e. not too thin and not too thick. There’s not much in the way of flavor transitions. From beginning to end, there are oodles of rich and roasty dark chocolate and black licorice notes, and the finish is mildly bitter and long lasting with a black licorice aftertaste. Overall, I really enjoyed this beer and would definitely recommend giving it a try.
