Beer – #1,110 – Three Boys – Four the Ages – Imperial Oyster Stout – Part 2 – 2020
This was/is a Secret Santa present, This pack includes 4 x 330ml bottles of the Three Boys Imperial Oyster Stout, from 4 different years – 2019, 2020, 2021 & 2022. It’s taken an age to get to the point of writing about them, the last one of this that I had was the 2018, and I was rather keen on it.
Except that I have of course an 18, 20, 21 and 22. I can live with that.
Three Boys Brewery make the Three Boys Imperial Oyster Stout – which is a Special Seasonal release – and they do this from 🇳🇿 Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand – the beer of course a Stout – Imperial Flavored / Pastry or an Imperial Stout, of 12.0% ABV.
“Experience the aged revolution of one of Three Boys’ cult favourite beers”. This is big news, and a big, beautiful beer! We’ve teamed up with Cryer Malt and doubled everything in our award winning Oyster Stout recipe to create this, double malt, double hops, double Bluff Oysters and double abv beer
So, What could possibly go wrong?
The 2020 version.
Less pronounced. aroma from the newly opened bottle.
In the glass this seems more of a hoppy aroma than the previous version I just had.
Looks lovely in the glass the head not so coffee coloured as the previous version.
To taste – A truly different beer.
This one’s quite complicated. It is very very smooth and very welcoming, but there’s this under-edge of a slight bitterness. There’s not the long carry of flavour and I’m not getting any residual heat or other feedback.
So it is its own beer. More carbonation makes it sharper on the tongue too.
This is very much more rounded, smoother and in balance – it’s become somewhat a sipper of a beer, one that demands that you slow down and appreciate it, mull it over and let it bring out its best self as it warms in the glass
I’m rather pleased with this.
Not sure what I really expected from drinking them in series and not as a set-up side-by side, except that in series seems so much more manageable and less desperate than opening 4 beers, MrsPhil would have a kitten.
The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. Lovely smoothness, less pronounce chocolate and fruity aroma from the toasting, but makes up for it by being an all round good beer that carries the ‘big beer’ badge boldly and proudly, Very pleasing beer.
The double dip review
- Where did I get it? These were a gift from a secret Santa.
- Am I enjoying it? I am, it feels very decadent.
- Would I have another? I have had one and I still have 2 more different vintages, so I’m rather smugly happy
- Would I share with a friend on a porch and set the world to rights? I would indeed, this is classy beer.
Music for this: Barrie – Barbara. It seemed like a good idea
Stout – Imperial Flavored / Pastry
The “Flavored Imperial Stout”, or “Flavored Double Stout” is an intensely-flavored, big, very dark reddish-brown to black colored ale with a wide range of flavor balances and with a clear flavoring element. Roasty-burnt malt with deep dark or dried fruit flavors, and a warming, bittersweet finish. American versions have more bitterness, roasted character, and finishing hops, while the English varieties, or “Russian Imperial Stout” (RIS), reflect a more complex specialty malt character and a more forward ester profile. It also feature an harmonious marriage of the additive and beer, but still recognizable as a beer. The additive character should be evident but in balance with the beer. (For example: fruits, spices, herbs, vegetables, coffee, honey, chocolate, maple sirup, chilies, nuts, vanilla, liquor – BUT not including Smoked malt, barrel-aging or a Sour element resulting from the brewing process). In the case of over-the-top, highly sweet, adjunct-heavy stouts reminiscent of a liquid version of cake or pastry, the name “Dessert Stout” or “Pastry Stout” if often used.
IMPERIAL STOUT
Imperial stouts are usually extremely dark brown to black in color with flavors that are intensely malty, deeply roasted and sometimes with accents of dark fruit (raisin, fig) or milk sourness. The bitterness is typically medium and often the low sie of that. Imperial stouts are strong and often exceed 8% by volume.
A life just as ordinary 