Here’s my second beer (and second Crowler) from the aptly named Willoughby Brewery of Willoughby, Ohio: Willoughby Crème Brulee BDA Russian Imperial Stout. This is a variant on their BDA Russian Imperial Stout, and a tasty one at that. Of the standard BDA Willoughby says on their website:

Our Imperial Stout, BDA is strong, dark and rich with dark fruit & malt flavors. Named after one of our brewers (we’ll let you guess which one).

I’ll confess that I have no clue. Not living in Ohio, I have to thank the man, the legend, the one and only beer professor himself, Dave Coulter for my crowler.

Like BDA Russian Imperial Stout, Crème Brulee Russian Imperial Stout has a hefty alcohol content indeed, 11% by volume (the BDA is listed as 11.5% on the website). Both sipping beers, then. Mine was canned on 11/14/16 and I got it from Dave and drank it on 11/17/2016. Three days from brewery tap to a pour down my gullet! Amazing, that. I used my Fizzics draft system for the pour and this beer definitely benefited from it.

Willoughby Crème Brulee Russian Imperial Stout pours to a jet-black color with a thick very creamy tan head formation through my Fizzics system and a luscious roasted coffee and burnt caramel nose. You could just sniff this beer for hours and that would almost be enough…almost, because the aroma is so darned wonderful it makes you want a sip more than life itself. So I do that, and the body is huge, thick and viscous like crude oil (not that I’ve ever sipped crude oil), smooth and creamy, roasty, infused with burnt caramel notes of the finest crème brulee, with a quite roasty bitter coffee grind finish.

Dessert and coffee all in the same glass! A truly exceptional beer, and its almost a tease that Willoughby is so far from me. Still, I’m glad I got to try this beer, and glad I had 32-ounces to enjoy. One pint would not have been enough of this beauty…..

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