Beer – #1,112 – Three Boys – Four the Ages – Imperial Oyster Stout – Part 4 – 2022

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.

Read Part 1 – the 2018 – here
Read Part 2 – the 2020 – here
Read Part 4 – the 2021 here

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 2022 version.

The one here I have to pick a champion or explain why you need to find someone to send you a box of this, or spend your own cash. Light outside is gin, curtains are now shut.

I have to push through and finish this off. I made that sound like it was a chore, far from it, I doubt that the person that sent that these to me really appreciates the level glee and excitement I’ve had so far. That it’s taken me until Easter to give this a proper amount of attention says more about my time management than the gift, easily one of the best I’ve had.

This has been the best Friday, honest.

I’ve had a roller coaster of beers of the same style from the same brewer over different years, 18, 20, 21 and nowto come 22. They are all alarmingly and obviously different, the 18 was, on reflection, a disappointment, the 20 was a lovely soft smooth experience, the 21 was an immersive glory, what a beer!, (I’m pre-writing or pre-preparing this as I finish the 21, telling MrsPhil that it made me smile, she asked if there was any cheese left, it’s a struggle).

The chocolate note is there on opening, it’s worth a few seconds of enjoyment on it’s own.

Sadly it loses this in the glass. but it looks amazing glossy black with a properly nice milky coffee colour head. It’s no that there is no aroma it’s just not jumpy or aggressive.

So, the taste, it’s quite green. Given I’ve had 3 earlier version I feel that there’s no settled or together about this, like there is with 21 version, Don’t mistake, this is nice, but it seems raw and incomplete, unfinished, but only in context of the previous versions in this context. Based on the prior version this should have the legs to be a bolter.

Let me be sure to say that on its own, if I had this I would be smiling a lot. It might not be polished around the edges but it’s rather a good stout with the bits that you might be looking for, You could be forgiven if you had this to walk away and think that somehow this is missing the mark in terms of style, it isn’t. What it is missing is time, and I base this solely on the way the 21 vintage has become rather a swan of a beer.

The 2022 – the upside is that this is a lovely beer, but that means that there is another side which says that this is going to much better in a year or doing what beer does in a bottle when left alone.

Also be clear that this is, on its own a thoroughly decent beer that is well thought out, balanced, measured, clever and brilliant. I don’t want to sell this short for the ‘now’ drinker (which I am one), but the patience of waiting might just pay off in something outstanding.

The pdubyah-o-meter rates this as 9 of its things from the thing. This is proper nice stout, there’s not edges, surprises or weirdness, its’ properly tasty and behaved. it had all the bits you want and bonus bits of flavour and taste that might expectbut will enjoy. I really think that alone this is lovely decent slightly bitter Stout, and given patience and time will delight.

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 three so I’m rather smugly happy with this the 4th
• 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:  Erykah Badu – New Amerykah Part Two: return of the Ankh. I wanted to go back to the middle or the bot of the Venn diagram where I’m comfortable. Or was t one of those square ones, anyway, a singer or songs, not a computer making a voice adjustment.

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.