Amager Bryghus (w/ Cigar City Brewing) - Xiquic and the Hero Twins

We’ve gotten to check out so many different well-made imperial stouts over the years, and a truly unique experience these days tends to be few and far between. We love this collab from Amager Bryghus and Cigar City: a reasonable 9% ABV, deftly nudged by black peppercorns and Cigar City’s signature cedar wood. The net result is a delicious imperial stout with a very welcoming woody background and a complex, spicy edge from those peppercorns.

Xiquic pours the color of deep dark chocolate, nicely oily and capped by a dark brown foam. It’s undoubtedly rich from the first pour. Complex waves of roasted malts and a dark baker’s chocolate roll out from the aroma, touched by toasty cedar and secondary notes of vanilla. A generous core maltiness throughout. Modest carbonation provides a finely integrated impact of bubbles, lifting the expression of the various chocolates and roast. The alcohol here stays tucked away, such that there’s a lot to dig into here without much accompanying warmth. A touch of cedar throughout, a spicy-woody edge that takes this streamlined imperial stout up to a whole other level, and just a ton of very careful details to this one from start to finish.

Amager Bryghus’ Xiquic and the Hero Twins is suitable for at least a moderate level of cellar time, with that peppercorn impact probably dissipating a touch with time. For food pairings: the ABV, dark roast and pepper notes here suggest pepper-encrusted steak or pork chops—something hearty enough to stand up alongside this potent, peppery, cedary stout.