The Christmas is almost behind the door. Not yet this door though because this door is #18 of my Advent Calendar and it unveils "Long, Dark Voyage to Uranus". That long, dark voyage obviously starts from Ontario, Canada. The opaque, pitch black beer pours slowly like thick oil. The moderate, rather short-lived carbonation unlocks a beautiful, tan, small-bubbled head that grows up to two fingers. The appearance is nothing less than a 5/5!  🖤  The foamy mattress shrinks soon to a neat lace ring on top. The withdrawing foam clings erratically to the wall of the glass. The nose likes the lovely medley of dark chocolate, cacao nibs and a tad raw cacao powder. The chocolatey punch is not particularly abundant though and is followed by a touch of brown sugar. The taste receptors find the dark chocolate much more intense than what the nose reported. Cacao is definitely raw and unprocessed, like cracked cacao bean. A little pinch of demerara sugar lingers somewhere behind the cacao/chocolate curtain; however, unlike what one could expect, the demerara has gained a burned twist around it. That makes me wonder if the demerara sugar in the list of ingredients is real natural demerara or some kind of semi-industrial substitute. A faint coffeeish nuance tries to enter the scene but is blocked in a distance. As if I also picked some roasted rye malt among the components. Enjoyable! The body is full or at least quite close to it. The beer finishes with burned chocolate malt, a good injection of raw chocolate and bags of raw cacao nibs. A reasonable addition of rye malt can also be identified. A silent whisper of soot seals the delivery. The aftertaste lubricates the tastebuds over medium duration. The mouthfeel is relatively full, intense, thick and oily. It's also deep, slightly lip-glueing, faintly burned, woody as well as distantly dry. Overall, very tasty but the wow effect is missing.

A bit strong.

Ei selkeää päiväystä. Kolmen sormen kuohkea vaalean ruskea vaahto. Aika lailla täysin mustaa imperial stoutia. Tuoksu on tumman paahteinen ja kepeän nokinen, makeahkon tumman sokerinen ja lakritsaisen salmiakkinen, kahvinen, tumman karamellinen ja tummahkon makean suklainen, kepeän yrttinen ja kepeän havuinen, kepeän luumuisen kuivahedelmäinen ja tumman kepeän maltainen. Maku on tumman paahteinen, kuivaavan greippimehuinen, kuivahkon kahvinen, makean tumman makean siirappinen ja tumman karamellinen, lakritsainen ja kevyen salmiakkinen, nokinen, yrttinen, makean luumuisen kuivahedelmäinen, suklaakakkuinen ja kepeän tumman maltainen. Katkeroa on kepeästi. Jälkimaku on kevyen happamahkon greippimehuinen, kepeän makean tumman luumuisen kuivahedelmäinen sekä kevyen yrttinen. Suutuntuma on kevyen hiilihappoinen keskitäyteläisen soljuvalla rungolla. Suht kuivahko, mutta kuitenkin makeahko imperial stout. Suht paljon black ipan tyyliä ja makuja reilummalla kokonaisuudella. 4,0.