Great Notion Double Stack Imperial Stout

Willamette Valley, USA

Great Notion Brewing's maple-syrup-and-pancake-inspired imperial pastry stout from Portland — a beer that represents the apex and most controversial end of the Pacific Northwest's craft beer innovation culture. Brewed with lactose, vanilla, and maple syrup to deliberately evoke a stack of pancakes, Double Stack polarises beer drinkers between those who find it an extraordinary dessert experience and those who find it a corruption of the stout style. Regardless of position, it is a technically impressive, widely sought-after annual release that shows Oregon's willingness to push craft beer into completely new territory.

Pairing intelligence

• dessert: Imperial stout with chocolate-espresso dessert is the most direct complementary pairing in craft beer. The beer's roasted malt and espresso character mirrors the pot de crème; its alcohol (11%) provides the structure to meet the dessert's extreme richness. Candied bacon's salt-sweet-smoke bridges with the stout's dark grain notes. Cacao nib's bitterness harmonises with the beer's roast. A dessert-and-beer pairing of absolute conviction.
• dessert: Double Stack's maple, coffee, and roasted-chocolate profile create a seamless mirror of the dessert — the stout's flavour profile is the dessert's ingredient list in liquid form.
• dessert: Double Stack's coffee-maple-chocolate character creates a shared register with the affogato — the Imperial Stout and affogato are essentially the same flavour universe in different formats; the beer amplifies the espresso's bitterness while its sweetness meets the gelato.
• cheese: Wild ale's barnyard and light acidity mirrors the aged cheese's fermented, crystalline character. The quince paste's tart sweetness bridges both. This pairing demonstrates the sommelier's command of the beer programme's full range.
• digestif: The imperial stout's enormous roasted malt, coffee, and dark chocolate character is amplified by the maple and bacon glaze — a decadent Pacific Northwest dessert-digestif pairing.