King in the North Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

Another entry in their series of beers co-branded with HBO’s epic Game of Thrones, King in the North Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout comes from Brewery Ommegang. Brewed in honour of fan favourite character Jon Snow, this ale is a member of Ommegang’s “Royal Reserve Collection”. The beer is an 11% alcohol pugilist sold in frosted 750mL bottles. According to the copy, it’s aged at least six months in bourbon barrels.

Unsurprisingly, KitN has oodles of boozy sweetness, woody aromatics, and roasty malt notes. A definite slow-sipper, KitN is powerfully sweet and impressively strong. The flavour is rich and roasty, malt-forward, and woody as hell. It has a syrup-thick mouthfeel, but it narrowly dodged the threat of cloyingness.

I don’t think I’ll ever fully embrace the capitalistic combo of synergy and opportunism that comes with branded beers. However, I did love Game of Thrones and Brewery Ommegang rarely disappoints, so if ever there was a combo to pull it off, this might be it. KitN is a big, sweet, strong, and tasty beer. It’s close to too sweet, but the boozy, woody, malt-bomb gets the job done.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.