Collective Arts Brewing / Bellwoods Brewery Origin of Darkness Wheated Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Dulce de Leche – American Double / Imperial Stout at 11.9% ABV (C$7.00 at Collective, 355 ml, packaged on 30-Aug-2022, acquired 6-Oct-2022, reviewed 20-Nov-2022)
Appearance: nearly solid black with one finger of fine brown head diminishing gradually to nothing, no lacing. (3/5) Aroma: milky caramel, bourbon, oak, roast malt & chocolate, vanilla. (9/10) Taste: high sweet, high bitter. (9/10) Palate: full slick body, soft carbonation, sticky warming lingering bitter finish. (4/5)
Well, hello! Two of my absolute favourite Canadian breweries collaborating, albeit on a style that I don’t really consider to be the flagship for either. Could be good, could be not so good. …aaand it’s good. Great, actually. I mean, it is what it is: not one you’d want as a refresher after a day working construction, or a post-workout recovery beer, but as a late-night sipper? Boy, howdy. Shamelessly sweet and boozy, but with just the right balance of milky caramel Dulce de Leche and bourbon barrel notes to balance things out. Definitely the best out of the four Origin of Darkness I’ve tried this year, and among the best beers of the year. (17/20)
This will be my 5,429th unique Untappd check-in.
8.5/10 #ryansbooze ryansbooze.com
2 replies on “Collective Arts Brewing / Bellwoods Brewery Origin of Darkness Wheated Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Dulce de Leche – American Double / Imperial Stout at 11.9% ABV”
I have the 500 ml bottle … no info at all as to bottle date – BBF date. Can these be kept or do I chug out of paper bag on way home from LCBO?
Well, if you’ve got this specific one, it’s this year’s version, so the packaging date is probably the same (or nearly so) as this one. What’s the BB date?
And actually, I’m a bit surprised that it’s got a BB date. For this style, with that ABV, I’d expect this to cellar pretty much indefinitely. I mean, even though my attitude towards cans has come a long way, I wouldn’t even dream of cellaring any can – but a bottle of this would cause me no hesitation whatsoever. It might not improve much, because it really doesn’t have any sharp edges to mellow out, but it almost certainly wouldn’t get worse.