When River North Brewery won first place in Paste Mag’s highly competitive Imperial Stout blind tasting, beating out heavy-hitters like Surly, Perennial, and even Founders, the craft community went nuts. ISO! Gimmie, gimmie! Spread the love!

Stout lovers from far and wide scrambled to taste the brewery’s small-batch offerings -- they had to know what all the hullabaloo was about.

This was no easy feat outside of River North’s Denver taproom, and too many seekers came up empty handed.

After seeing all of your frenzied requests, we pulled some strings and managed to secure a tiny stash of the brewery’s 4.12 Tavour-rated Barrel-Aged Avarice Imperial Stout! Only 155 cases of this vintage exist, so this annually released treasure won’t be around for long.

River North starts by aging this 11.1% ABV roasty monster for 10 months in whiskey barrels with specialty Belgian yeast. This imparts bold flavors of Mission Figs and dark cherries atop a fudgy, fondue-like base. A strong whiskey warmth from the barrels leads to a decadent finish reminiscent of a caramel tart with iced vanilla glaze.

It’s almost inconceivable that River North would let this micro-batch brew outside Denver, but they knew Tavour’s members would love and cherish it as much as the devout Coloradans. So close your eyes, take a sip, and relish in the fact that you’ve acquired a rare barrel-aged Stout that will make you Lord of the Dark Beer bottleshare — go ahead, it’s OK to gloat.

Rated 4.17 on BeerAdvocate; 4.12 on Tavour; 4.11 on Untappd