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Description:
This seasonal “Catch and Release” Imperial Stout is a dry hopped stiffy, leading to an explosive finish at 9% ABV that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face.
Line priced with our Festive Ale, slightly higher than SweetWater’s year round lip smackin core styles.
Winner of 2014 World Beer Cup Silver Medal in the American-Style Stout category. (Description provided by company)
Brewer:
Beer Style:
ABV:
9.00% ABV
Availability Frequency:
December - March
Containers Available:
bottle
bomber
draft
Locations Where Available:
Southeast
New York
Illinois
Ohio
Texas
Store/Serve Temperature:
close to 60 degrees F
Comments
A Stout For Hopheads
Black brew with a two-finger brown head that leaves beautiful lacing. Smells of citrusy hops! Nothing but hops. When I drank it, Happy Ending puts the grapefruit front and center with a coffee finish. Mouthfeel is very fizzy with a somewhat thin body.
As someone that doesn't care for hops and loves stouts because of the lack of hops, drinking SweetWater's Happy Ending was a frustrating nightmare for me.
Unexpected
Pitch black with a thin and quickly dissipating light tan head.
Roasted malt aromas are strong, with a lot of dark fruit, some roasted coffee, and some light alcohol as well. There is a light almost citrus-like hop aroma as well, which is unusual in a stout and I'm not sure that it really works all that well.
Strong and assertive dark malt flavors, with the roasted and dark fruits upfront, and the more bitter flavors in the finish. The hop aroma becomes fairly strong citrus and pine flavors in the finish, and they linger a little bit on the palate. Not bad, but certainly a little unexpected. After about 1/3 of the way through the glass, though, the malt and hop flavors start to meld a little bit more.
A medium full body and moderate carbonation.
A slightly hoppier stout than I'm used to (even for an Imperial stout), I do think that this beer won me over to its side by the end!