Goose Island The Muddy Review

Name: Goose Island The Muddy
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 9.0

I've got a new release from Goose Island Brewing and it's the third release that I'll be having in the "The" Series. It's the name I've given to the limited release series that Goose Island has been releasing recently. First came The Illinois, an Imperial IPA named after Frank Lloyd Wright's conceptual mile high skyscraper that would've been built in downtown Chicago. Then came The Ogden, a Tripel which is  named after William Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago.

The newest addition to the series is The Muddy, an Imperial Stout that gets it's name from Muddy Waters, who is responsible for the creation of the Chicago Blues scene, which first rose to prominence in the first half of the 20th Century. According to the bottle, this is is brewed with licorice.

The Muddy pours a pitch black color with some high visible carbonation. The head takes on a thin khaki appearance along with some sparse lacing.

The nose starts out with rather strong roastiness with chocolate malts, dark licorice and light vanilla notes. With the exception of the light vanilla, this is a very dark & roasty smelling beer and the licorice and roasted barley work in conjunction with the chocolate malts to make this possible.

Sure enough, that dark and roasty aspect carries over into the flavor. It starts out with a strong roasted barley taste which is followed up by some chocolate malts & dark licorice before being topped off with a bitter hop aftertaste.

The body is quite hefty and the carbonation is pretty moderate. It also possesses some thickness so it does feel a bit chewy.

The Muddy is a nice, dark and roasty Imperial Stout that is sure to please fans of the style. However like The Ogden before it, the asking price is a bit high when you consider that it only comes in a 4-pack, which is around $15 before taxes in my area. My advice would be to do what I did and buy a single bottle and try it out before deciding if a 4-pack is worth the price of admission.

Goose Island The Muddy - 8.5/10