In light of the spring snow the Colorado front range received last week, I'm featuring one more imperial stout to close out the colder months of early 2014. I recently enjoyed a glass of Imperial Coffee Chocolate Stout by New Belgium Brewing at Parry's Pizza in Greenwood Village, Colorado. This beer is part of New Belgium's Lips of Faith series, which means it's a limited or special release. I hadn't seen this one out in the beer market since I first tried it more than a year ago. When I noticed it was one of Parry's 50 craft beers on tap Friday evening, I figured I'd give this tasty beer another go while I had the chance.
The beer, which I'll call Stout for the sake of brevity, is one of the more straight-forward beers I've had from the Lips of Faith series. That's not to say it's boring or lacks complexity, not in the least bit. New Belgium uses the Lips of Faith series as a format for its most creative and experimental brews, often incorporating unconventional ingredients or brewing methods. Perhaps the most well-known Lips of Faith beer is the outstanding La Folie sour brown ale. Others have included Cascara Quad, a Belgian dark strong ale made with dates and coffee cherries; Paardebloem, an ale brewed with peach juice and dandelion greens; and Coconut Curry Hefeweizen. Compared to these and most of the Lips of Faith series, Stout sounds a bit mainstream.
Don't mistake mainstream with ordinary, though, because Stout is a big beer that's loaded with flavor. The flavors are a great combination of dark roasted malts, coffee, and dark chocolate. It's a very balanced beer that doesn't tilt too far in any one direction, with the flavors playing nicely off each other. My only critique is that the body feels somewhat thin for this style, but that doesn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the beer. It's a great cold weather beer, and one I hope New Belgium continues to brew periodically.
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