Aroma: “A prominent roastiness, with even a touch char and black licorice. A light sweet chocolate rounds it out, but the roast dominates. Nice sweet malt roast. Chocolate. Some vanilla. Toast.”

Flavor: “Moderately sweet cherry chocolate with a touch of roast and some vanilla underneath. A nice chocolaty flavor, but it has a hard time rising over the roast. Some barrel character, but overall the roast dominates.”

Overall: “Fairly true to style in all respects. The heat on the finish is a bit detracting. Other than that, pretty easy drinking. A singularly roast-forward stout with just a touch of barrel character. The chocolate was nice, but the booze was pretty hot throughout this beer.”