Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout
Besides making some pretty damn good beer, Stone Brewing is also more than capable of drumming up a decent amount of hype for their products – especially limited, one-off brews like their Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout. Billed as a collaborative effort between the brewery, Fark.com creator Drew Curtis and actor Will Wheaton, this is a big (13% ABV, 65 IBU) and complex Imperial Stout.
Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout is brewed with pecans, wheat and rye before having a quarter of the recipe shipped off for a little bourbon barrel aging before the final blend. The result is a beer that brings deeply layered flavors and, dare I say, one that actually lives up to the hype that preceded its release.
Appearance
The brew pours opaque black as night with a brief crown of rocky and dark brown foam.
Aroma
w00tstout has an interesting nose with a lightly nutty presence, cocoa, slight spicy rye, and distant bourbony notes. The beer, for as big as it is, gives very little hint to its potency with just a touch of booze on the nose. The aroma has an overall refined character and is surprisingly subtle.
Taste
The aroma may have been on the subdued side, but the beer flavors that this beer carries are quite complex. Nuts, spicy rye, bourbon, wood, coffee, cocoa and a decent level of bitterness all work together to create layers of complexity for the tastebuds to explore. The alcohol also makes itself known here with a powerfully warming finish. The full bodied brew slithers over the tongue as each ingredient seems to take turns with one another in the spotlight.
Overall
Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout is a big beer with big flavors. It’s rich and complex as it delivers the influences brought in by each partner of the collaboration. It’s a darn good beer, but I think it could use some serious time in the cellar to mellow out the alcohol a good deal. It’s not at hot as some imperial stouts that I’ve had, but is still quite warming.
Rating: 4.25/5
