Narwhal

A week or two ago, I was taking part in one of my favorite Friday evening activities: Star Liquor's Free Beer Friday - a weekly beer tasting hosted at and by Star. The featured brewery was none other than Sierra Nevada. Most famously known for their Pale Ale, I was quite intrigued to go to a beer tasting feature some of their other brews. And when I was introduced to one called Narwhal, my Friday Beers instinct couldn't resist.

So majestic

Narwhal is a Russian Imperial Stout, and it does everything to live up to that label. It's a silky dark, strong stout with almost too much body. It's actually kind of overpowering to drink, and after I brought the four-pack home I opened one and didn't much want to finish it by the end. So, of course, I have to try to make pancakes out of it.

Prep/Cooking:

It always looks so delicious

The batter came out the typical brown that dark beers give you. In batter form, it was mellower than the beer, which made it slightly more enjoyable, but there wasn't any special or particular about it.

Results:

Mmmmm

Narwhal, in beer form, is almost overwhelming with the strength of the beer and the intensive of the flavors going on. Narwhal, in pancake form, is actually pretty delightful. It manages to keep that malt backbone, with some dark chocolate malt flavors, and ditches a lot of the overhead and intensity the beer has. 

The Ternary Scale:

Low-angle detail shot