Review: Flying Monkeys' BNL Imperial Chocolate Stout (If I had a million dollars..)

If I had a million dollars.. I'd be able to afford this beer. Well, kidding! When Stephen Page left Barenaked Ladies a few years ago, I expected the band to slowly end up breaking up and each member doing their own thing, but that wasn't the case - in fact, they still tour just as much as they used to and they're just as prolific as ever, and after listening to one of their CBC Radio 2 Canada Live performance a year back, the BNL fan in me (since 1996) realized that they were just as good without Stephen Page as they were with him, they'll live on. So when I heard that Barenaked Ladies were going to team up with Barrie's Flying Monkeys Brewery, I thought two things: Either it was going to be a huge sellout by Flying Monkeys, trying to attach their name to a widely successful band, or - the beer would be amazing as all their other products are, as everyone knows that Flying Monkeys' beers are consistently some of the best beers in all of Canada. Well, it wasn't a sellout!

I got a sample of Flying Monkeys' Barenaked Ladies Imperial Chocolate Stout at Vanessa's place last month, so I already know that it's de-lish, and not a sellout of a product.

Appearance: Pours a thick dark chocolate and has a very thick maple fudge light brown creamy foam head, creamlicious!

Aroma: The aroma is one of the most prolific senses in the beer so far. It's a very dessert aromatic stout, reminiscent of my grandmaman's chocolate cake and homemade chocolate icing, incredibly thick, sweet, dark, almost like a dessert coma. It's like they stuffed a chocolate cake into the bottle somehow.

Taste: First thing that appears is taste of alcohol followed by roasted coffee beans. Then comes a thick chocolate cake taste to it, like as if a coffee & chocolate cake was liquified. It's quite bitter on the palate for the aftertaste (as well as a hint of chocolate icing). Incredibly dessert-licious

Overall Thoughts: It costs $11 for a 750mL bottle, pricier than my go-to holiday dessert beer, Muskoka's Winter Beard Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout, but it's incredibly rich in flavour, very much a sipping stout over something you'd drink casually with friends, but I highly suggest sharing this with friends because the 10% alcohol will creep up quickly. I have another bottle waiting for me, so I may drink it later. Flying Monkeys, you always make good beer!

Pros: Ma grandmaman's chocolate cake, IN A BOTTLE! Not a sellout beer on Flying Monkeys' part.

Cons: Quite bitter in taste thanks to the coffee notes, and the bitterness aftertaste lingers for a long time, but still damned good!