Double Barrel T.C.O (Tristan’s Chocolate Orange)

Imperial stout aged for 9 months in a Heaven Hill bourbon barrel, then aged another 9 months in an orange bitters barrel. Further conditioned on fair trade organic cacao, ethically sourced from the Phillipines and The Dominican Republic.

When I saw some bitters barrels pop up through one of my barrel brokers I knew I needed to jump on it. I had a feeling the orange bitters barrel would be perfect for a chocolate orange beer, so I had to go for it. I picked a barrel of stout that had strong bourbon character since I wanted it to shine through all the other things that would be going on.
And boy, there is a lot going on.

For cacao I chose to pair a pretty classic fudge-y crop from the Philippines with a really unique cacao from
The Dominican Republic. The Dominican cacao had
notes of citrus that blend right in with the citrus of the
orange barrel.

The result is a big beer that is chocolate-y, orange-y, bourbon-y and stout-y. It's a special beer for this special time of year!

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