30 August 2016 - Best Beer HQ
Moa Oak Aged Imperial Stout Review
Moa’s oak-aged Imperial Stout would be a good beer to cellar and age, according to the blurb on the bottle (see below). If only I had that kind of self-control; the truth is, I’d already popped the top of this bottle within half an hour of purchasing it at my local supermarket.
Let’s see if I should have waited…
ABV: 10.2%
Blurb on the bottle: Moa Imperial Stout is a very strong, upfront and rich beer hopped to over 100 IBUs. Aged with French oak, this beer not only displays coffee, mocha and smoked cedar characters but also some sweet and savoury notes unique to Moa Imperial Stout. A great beer to cellar and age.
Tastes like: An uppercut to the tongue – but in a good way, obviously.
Moa Imperial Stout certainly packs a punch. It’s very much a full-bodied, full flavour kind of stout, black as midnight, with strong notes of roasted coffee beans and dark chocolate. It’s also soft and smooth, with a long lingering finish.
Everyone knows that stouts are best drunk at just a little cooler than room temperature (provided you don’t live in the Tropics), so it’ll surprise exactly no-one that this beer got even more interesting as it warmed.
The verdict: Moa’s oak-aged Imperial Stout is a mighty fine beer indeed. I’m certainly glad to drink it right now – not “cellar and age” it – because this is exactly the sort of beer you should drink on a cold and rainy Saturday in the middle of winter. And at 10.2% ABV, I was happy as Larry by the end of it.
Beer/movie pairing: Almost as black as Moa’s Imperial Stout is the 2005 horror film The Descent, about a caving expedition gone wrong. (That’s something of an understatement, but you’ll have to forgive me because the less said about this darkly brilliant film, the better.)
Check out the trailer…