Breckenridge – 72 Imperial

As names and labels go, Breckenridge’s use of a 1972 Imperial lookalike for its 7.2 percent ABV Imperial Chocolate Cream Stout ranks highly on the cool scale.

The beer is driven by a long smooth taste of roasted dark malts and chocolate with a pleasant afterburner of alcohol. A dusting of the chocolate flavor at the finish is a reminder of what just cruised past.

Yep, alcohol in the flavor profile works (although it’s slightly below imperial scale). And the straightforward, long-hooded format works, too. This is not a complicated imperial, merely bold.

Old school in its outlandish, mega-chromed way, yet it’s a new imperial school, too.

– Jonathan Ingram