Sometimes, we have beers that we can age and taste again for the first time. In this post, we rediscover Mike’s Imperial Stout from way back in late 2023 that was a part of our beloved “Jar of Destiny” series.
It has been in a keg for two years, buried in a corner, and doing mysterious aging things. We got many requests to retaste it so we tapped the keg again. Learn more about how flavors changed after 24 months or so.
Getting You Up To Speed
Mike’s 7th pick of the Jar of Destiny series was American Imperial Stout. He built it on a base of Golden Promise and Munich malt, with flaked barley for body and layers of roasted barley, chocolate malt, and Carastan for depth. His secret ingredient was a pound of dark brown sugar. It added a touch of molasses sweetness and helped push the gravity north of 1.096.
He hopped the beer with Cryo Columbus for backbone and Cascade and Willamette for subtle aroma. It was fermented with a blend of Cellar Science Cali and English yeasts harvested from a smaller beer.
The result was a rich, malt-forward stout with spicy bitterness around 8.4% ABV.
Aging Gracefully
Here are our notes from our most recent tasting.
Aroma & Appearance
Holding the pint up to the light, it is still pitch black in color. There is not an inch of brown or ruby showing. The aroma opens with unexpected elegance: dark cherry, molasses, maybe a whisper of liquor-soaked oak, tobacco leaf, roasted chocolate. There is no hint of cardboard or phenolic funk. After two full years at room temp, we are feeling pretty good about the aroma.
Flavor & Mouthfeel
This thing is full, rich, velvety, and still sticky in the best possible sense. The roast isn’t sharp or ashy. It’s folded into dark chocolate, plum, and black fruit. The hop bitterness that we chatted about when we first tasted it is gone. In fact, none of hop character remains. The alcohol presence feels more confident now (maybe creeping toward 9–9.5 %) than in its youth. The aftertaste carries a sweet-dark tobacco, lingering dark fruit, and a molasses sweetness. The palate shifts beautifully between chocolate, dried fruit, and a soft roasted edge.
Evolution & Surprises
What surprised us the most is how the beer mellowed without losing complexity. It didn’t turn into some dull, oxidized monster. The flavors morphed, mingled, and deepened. The flavor notes from our original tasting (graham cracker, dark toast, aggressive roast) have settled into something grander.
Also, the gravity crept downward (Mike measured for this second tasting ~1.025 vs. 1.032 for the first tasting), which points to continued maturation.
Imperial Stout Tasting Conclusions
It’s elegant, complex, bold but not punishing. It shows what happens when you’re patient and let a high gravity stout settle, mellow, and find balance. This beer turned out to be one of the better surprises we’ve had in the BrewDudes lab. Mike may bottle some and enter it in a competition. Either way, thanks for pushing us to revisit this. If you ever brew a monster like this, don’t rush the first sip. Give it time.
BREW ON!