 Welcome to this episode of Brutal Battle Beer Break. We have yet another brewery to showcase on this little video thing that I do. This one is Halfacre Beer Company. They're out of Chicago, Illinois. This beer is called Big Hugs and it is an Imperial Stout by them. It's 10% alcohol by volume and it's in collaboration with Dark Matter Coffee. So I'm assuming we'll get some nice coffee notes out of it. First off, Big Hugs. Look, it's a giant cat hugging dinosaurs. I mean, how can you get better than that? But then it has a little pull-me-tab here. So I haven't done this, but let me see. Oh, also to mention that this beer is, I believe, about two years aged. Oh, that's fun. There's more artwork under it. Check that out. Pretty funny. I like the gimmick. I think it's cute, but it is just that. It's a gimmick. Let's see how the beer is. Hoping it's good. I'm assuming that since I've sat on it for a little bit too, about two years, the coffee may have really died down in it, so I'll just expect that that might be the case. All right, obviously very, very dark. I'm going to swirl it up. It gets a nice tan head to it. Typical stout looking ordeal. Oh, yes. I do smell coffee. Green coffee, though. It's not like extremely roasty. It's more of like a new green coffee that's been picked. So it's really nice with the coffee. A lot of chocolate to back that up. Some kind of vanilla-y, some vanilla-y notes with that chocolate as well, and a little bit of a soy type twang at the end of it. Smells good though. Definitely get the coffee. The coffee actually tastes roasty, and I'm definitely getting a decent amount of chocolate with it. It's more of like a little bit of like a dark chocolate aspect to it. It's got like a lactic kind of milkiness to it, too, at the same time. Very creamy, nice mouthfeel to it. I'm getting a little bit of that soy saucy type finish that I was talking about smelling in the nose. It's a little woody. It actually kind of tastes like it was oak barrel age or something. It's got a little bit of like an oaky taste, but I'm pretty sure it's not, but it's just got that kind of taste. But it's good, which actually that woodyness could just be imparted from those coffee beans and the way the coffee flavor plays with the malt. This is nice, and as I keep sipping it, I keep getting more and more coffee notes to it, which is really nice. It's a nice coffee. So the chocolate starts coming down a little bit, but then I get the coffee up front, and then the chocolate actually, if I'm not taking sips, builds a little bit in my mouth as like a lingering flavor. It's nice. I recommend. It's a good beer, and it's aged like two years. I'd like to get a fresh one and try that and see how it is, because I assume that the coffee might be even more present. But the way this is right now, real nice. I highly recommend it. Halfacre Beer Company, you did a nice job. Oh, and I also have to say it's 10% alcohol. Don't taste it. Tastes like eight to me. Maybe eight and a half, but it tastes very well balanced. So awesome beer. Get it if you can try it. I know Halfacre does a bunch of other really good stuff. I've had Daisy Cutter. They're pale ale. That's really hoppy, really nice. Also, there used to be Hayoka IPA. Now it's called Sinita IPA, really nice IPA, and I believe it won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival for IPAs. So anyway, thank you everyone for checking this out. If there are any specific beers you want me to try and taste, you can send me an email at brutalbattlepodcastatgmail.com. Check that out, and I'll see what I can do if you want to send something in. Anyway, thanks everyone. Once again, go get yourself an awesome beer.