Apr

30

Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout

By Andy Murphy

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I’ve heard great things about the beers of Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons, Colorado — one of the few craft breweries that cans its beers.

Canned beer makes me think of fizzy lagers and mowing the grass, drinking straight from the can and crumpling the alumninum when finished. So what a strange experience, to crack open a can of beer and pour a rich, syrupy oil!

Ten Fidy splashed up a dark, chocolate-colored head about an inch tall in my tulip glass. It had an body so dark it sucked the light from the room and pulled my nose in for a draw of its chocolaty, roasted, hoppy goodness.

Printed in blocky, lasered ink on the bottom of the can, beneath the batch number and canning date is the following epitaph: “DARK is the ABSENCE of LITE.”

I can drink to that!

This is an excellent stout, quite worth of the Imperial designation (as only a strong stout should be). Ten Fidy tastes of rich, roasted coffee and chocolate malt blended with the delicate sweetness of oats and cut through with an enviable, herbal hop bitterness. It has a full mouthfeel, wet and smooth on the surface but becoming lightly grainy through the swallow.

As an Imperial Stout, it lives up to the name with a robust flavor and a high ABV rating of 9.5% and an IBU rating of 98! This is one of the first stouts I’ve had that displayed its hops so proudly — and expertly.

According to the Oskar Blues website, Ten Fidy is:

…the beer equivalent of decadently rich milkshake made with malted-milk balls and Heaven’s best chocolate ice cream. Ten FIDY is about 10% ABV and is made with enormous amounts of two-row malts, chocolate malts, roasted barley, flaked oats and hops. Its huge-but-comforting flavors hide a whopping 98 IBUs that are deftly tucked underneath the beer’s mountains of malty goodness.

I love the can, ringed at the top with “Half-Baked. Fully Roasted Ale” and “Cross-eyed. Cyclopean. Cancupiscent” — plus the confident, “this dog’ll hunt.”

Ladies and Gentlemen, I submit proof that great beer CAN come from a can. Just remember to recycle — or as they say on the can, “Pack it in, pack it out.”

Related posts:

1. Bourbon Barrel Stout
2. Highland Brewing Oatmeal Porter
3. The Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout
4. Bad Penny Brown Ale

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Categories : Beer a Day