I’m over a week behind on posting this (too many other things and blog posts going on as we head into the holiday season), but my latest print article for The Bulletin considers Sugar High, the latest in the tinyHaus series from 10 Barrel Brewing. It’s an imperial pastry stout inspired by Almond Joy candy bars.

10 Barrel Brewing Co. recently released the newest beer in its specialty tinyHaus series, Sugar High, a pastry stout infused with coconut and toasted almonds. The tinyHaus beers are creative, small batch brews created on the company’s innovation pilot brewery and released in limited quantities. The beers span a range of styles and are brewed in 20-barrel batches, with typically half being canned.

This one is an imperial strength example of the category, with 11% alcohol by volume. It started as an imperial chocolate stout, according to Cornett, and had a small portion of bourbon barrel aged imperial stout blended in. Lactose, or milk sugar, was added to boost the body and add some additional sweetness.

Considering the inclusion of coconut and almonds, I asked about the inspiration behind the recipe. “I have tasted a few examples with coconut that I thought worked well,” Cornett said. “I wanted to add additional depth by adding toasted almonds. The goal was to challenge myself to see how close I could actually get to the flavor of an Almond Joy.”

Read the rest of the article for my review, but I will note that Cornett hit her mark with this beer; if you need a big dessert brew to accompany your holidays, this one fits the bill.