General Notes (some of which others have already mentioned):
1) MT now has a parking lot that's available after 6 PM and I _think_ Jacob said all day on Sundays but the volume was a bit low so I might have misheard on that. The after 6 PM part is for sure though.
2) They're getting close to rolling out their own e-commerce platform and moving off of BPT. Expect some sales for less hyped beers in the coming months with the current plan being to entirely move into the in-house solution by the time renewals roll around and they're opening up new locations.
3) No new timelines for LA or Encinitas, at least that Jacob would commit to. Things are moving through licensing ******** but it doesn't sound as if there's anything that has come up that will derail the projects.
4) At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, I hope that preview tastings with guests aren't in the cards for every month going forward. It was a bit more difficult to hear, the logistics of distributing beer were a bit more strained (I didn't get a glass of Vanilla until the conversation about it was already over), and it felt like we were a bit more crammed in. This isn't intended as a slight against MT staff at all, either from a planning or execution or standpoint - everyone was on top of their game as usual - I think it was just a bit much and I'd prefer to see the preview tastings be on the more intimate side. That said, I think doing a quarterly thing with guests would be cool, either one preview each quarter or a "League social" each quarter, similar to what was part of the plan for League v1.0.
Preface to the Beer Reviews:
I'm not putting scores in because I scored them all identically and I don't feel like scoring is all that meaningful for adjunct imperial stouts at this point. Some people want a Dark Lordesque, tongue coating smoothie, while others are looking for a drier base on which to judiciously apply spices and build a story to be teased apart. Without context, scores lose all value, and these beers are good enough to merit the context of actual words.
Beer Reviews:
1) Bourbon Monsters Park - ABV is up to 14.6% ABV this year and they've held back some older barrels to blend in. If I heard correctly, it was a blend of 18 month, 12 month, 10 month, and 8 month barrels. Nose opens with rich barrel notes but minimal heat, followed by dark chocolate. Palate starts out with deep baker's chocolate, moving into toffee and vanilla, going into a long marshmallow finish. Some minor leather and coconut notes linger in the background with minimal oak. Last year, the base was tied with Coconut & Nibs for my favorite, and they might have surpassed it this year. Adjuncts will get the glory but the base beer is precisely what I love about bourbon barrel imperial stouts, something that's dry enough to drink a full glass of, and interesting enough to want to.
2) Bourbon MP w/ Vanilla - Blend of Mexican and Madasgascar beans this year, no Tahitian. Strong nose of sweeter chocolate followed by a huge dose of vanilla. On the palate, the base beer asserts its sweeter side thanks to the vanilla, with more of a dark chocolate than dark baker's chocolate (as in the adjunct-free base). Vanilla hits hard in the middle of the tongue and follows through to a long finish. I hesitate to judge too much from a taster in a rushed environment, but I think this variant would benefit from a bit more mouthfeel than the base. However, it's still excellent as-is and I'm looking forward to opening bottles in a relaxed environment and re-assessing them.
3) Bourbon MP w/ Coconut & Cacao Nibs - Ghanian nibs and they did multiple additions of both toasted and untoasted coconut, which helps build both flavor and aroma. Nose is a huge Mounds character that hits hard with sweet chocolate and coconut. Taste starts out with rich chocolate before the coconut takes over and holds on through the finish. Some marshmallow notes flit about in the background, rounding out the coconut profile. I still think Barbados Rum w/ Coconut & Vanilla is the best coconut beer they've done, but this might be my favorite batch of Bourbon MP w/ Coconut & Nibs.
4) Nitro Bourbon MP w/ Coffee - The nose is all coffee, all the time, to the point where I almost questioned what I was drinking. Not quite as dominant on the palate with the base beer shining through up front and the coffee bringing forth more of the baker's chocolate and leather notes but the finish transitions back to a strong coffee profile that's well supported by the thicker mouthfeel. I hope they made a lot of this because I'm really looking forward to doming cans.
5) Mexican Hot Chocolate Bourbon MP - Spiced with cinnamon, cocoa nibs, Mexican vanilla beans, and four types of chiles (guajillo, ancho, cayenne, pasilla). Really complex nose of spices with the cinnamon being slightly dominant. Some people aren't fans of cinnamon in beer, curious to see how they receive this, but I thought it was fantastically balanced. On the palate, it opens with sweeter chocolate notes thans to the vanilla and nibs, cinnamon comes through, and it moves into a finish of chile flavor with very minimal heat. They did a great job of capturing the chile notes without the heat and I don't think people who dislike spicy beers will have any reason to complain about how this is executed.
Cheers to the Modern Times team on another great tasting and round of releases!
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