A place where you can park your bike, come in, sit down and enjoy some good food and company

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Heading into the Abyss

The wife an I got a great invite up to Auburn to check out a nice little Thai place to eat.  Auburn Thai Garden Restaurant right off  hwy 49 and Palm. When I scoped out the menu online I  found they had an
amazing beer list. It turns out the owner is a self proclaimed "beer head". So  to skip to the chase, this is all about the beer. We decided to split a bottle of "The Abyss". A 22 oz bottle of pure joy.  The poor server brought us a bottle but couldn't figure out how to get pass the wax seal? So after she came back with the bottle she promptly filled our tulip glasses with the liquid gold. Pours a pitch black color, developing a small, brown colored head that recedes fairly quickly, not leaving lace on the glass so much as depositing oil-like slicks of beer that pull down with each sip.

Aroma is nice and intense, a mild roast character initially which falls into some chocolate and coffee notes. Some vanilla and oak from the barrel, not a whole lot of bourbon, which is kinda nice for once.

The flavor is a complex combination of malt and barrel characteristics which combine to make and outstanding Imperial Stout. The malt characteristics really shine, some slightly roasted and chocolate notes and strong dark caramel character, followed quickly by wood notes of vanilla, toasted marshmallow and just a hint of bourbon. All in all a great experience.

Not to say the rest of the evening wasn't delish. I just decided to rate the beer today. That way I can go back and give another review of the food!

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