A friend of mine, The Beer Counselor, suggested that I post best new brews that I experience for the first time this year by category. It sounds easy enough but when I went through the list of brews I had it turned out to be quite challenging.

For the first installment I went through my list of Imperial Stouts. I’m going to do a separate entry for barrel-aged so I can automatically take them out of this category. I thought that would make things a bit easier. My list included:
*Toppling Goliath Assassin
*Dogfish Head Bitches’ Brew
*Backpocket 1st Anniversary Stout
*New Holland Dragon’s Milk
*Mikkeller Black Hole
*To Ol Goliat
*Stone Farking Wheaton WOOtstout

And then I came to the winner. It’s really hard not to pick Toppling Goliath’s Mornin’ Delight. Not only is it my winner in this category, but it might be my favorite beer of all-time. I’ll never forget the first time I had it, the release at Toppling Goliath tasting room in Decorah. I rode up with a few friends expecting to get a pretty tasty brew, but instead I was blown away by a complex, flavorful, imperial stout that I couldn’t get enough of. I said it then, and I’ll say it again, this beer is breakfast in a bottle. Coffee, chocolate, maple syrup. An amazing brew that I hope I am lucky enough to get to try again in 2014.

BEST NEW IMPERIAL STOUT EXPERIENCED FOR THE 1st TIME: Toppling Goliath Mornin’ Delight