From the Beer Writer: Due to their deviation from traditional brewing methodologies, extreme beers can be tricky from a brewer’s perspective, and less-than-reliable from a consumer standpoint. Pushing the alcohol-by-volume envelope often leads to overly-sugary beers or libations so brawny and boozy they burn the hatch. Neither can be said for No Hope For Rescue, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout from Rip Current Brewing that comes in at a mind-bending 18.25% ABV. Of course, it’s bold on the palate, with an onslaught of chocolate, coffee, and vanilla on the olfactory and tastes sensors. It will no doubt mellow a tad with age, as well, but for a newly-siphoned “double imperial stout,” it’s nicely balanced and quite drinkable. Much of that has to do with this San Marcos-based operation’s experience producing extreme beers. Back in 2014, they brewed a 15.7% “quadruple IPA” called Hop Wine that, while over-the-top, worked for the most part. No Hope For Rescue is better than its hoppier predecessor, but also more limited. Last week’s online bottle presale was over nearly as quickly as it started, leaving Rip Current with a very small number of bottles that will be for sale along with draft pours of this behemoth during the brewery’s Summer Blast Party at its San Marcos and North Park tasting rooms tomorrow.
From the Brewer: “Back in 2014, we decided to brew a double-sized version of our award-winning Rescue Buoy Imperial Stout. We wondered how our customers would react to a beer that was over 18% ABV, yet with a very drinkable, semi-sweet finish. The release of No Hope for Rescue Double Imperial Stout was a great success and customer feedback has been very positive. Its BeerAdvocate rating is 4.41 out of 5. So we pondered what else could we do to take this beer to the next level. Of course, the decision was to age this huge beer for 22 months in the best bourbon barrels we could find! On Saturday, July 28, we will have the long-awaited release of Bourbon Barrel-Aged No Hope for Rescue Double Imperial Stout (BANHFR), which has a complex dark-malt character featuring notes of molasses, coffee, chocolate and dark fruits like fig and date. The extensive barrel-aging allowed this beer to extract the flavors from Heaven Hill bourbon whiskey preserved in the barrel, while pulling out notes of coconut and vanillin deeper in the oak. The final beer is 18.25%! Last week, we offered many of the new 500-milliliter bottles for pre-sale onlne. Sales were so brisk that we sold out in 12 minutes! Fortunately, we set aside a few cases for each location to sell this Saturday at our Summer Blast party. We open at noon and expect most of the bottles to go quickly, so please don’t wait to get your bottles. At the party, we will also have BANHFR on tap along with two very limited variations that will be available for sampling. One variation includes a special coffee from Dark Horse Coffee Roasters while the other includes beans from Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, ancho chile peppers and organic cacao nibs.”–Paul Sangster, Co-owner & Brewmaster, Rip Current Brewing