MOA Brewing Company – Imperial Stout: Continuing with more New Zealand craft beer which has gained some serious distribution into BC thankfully, I opened this 10.2% abv Imperial Stout which is aged in Oak Pinot Noir barrels, is hopped significantly (over 100 IBUs) and comes in a 375 mL bottle that is corked. As you can see by the bottle, the dark green and label makes it hard to take a decent picture of with cellphone grade camera, I did my best I swear! It is important with this kind of beer to let it warm up, I pulled this from the fridge about 30 minutes before opening it.
Aroma and Appearance: The colour is a dark reddish brown that appears almost black in the glass, it pours with a thin tan head and some rising bubbles near the surface of the foam. The aroma is of red wine with plum and grape must followed by some toasty smokey bread.
Flavour: I could taste some smoke, oak, caramels, red grapes, plums all up front which is amazing, in the middle it was a tad boozy with a rich and creamy mouth feel that also revealed some earthy coffee notes and finally it finishes with some dry cocoa and hints of the Pinot Nior barrels that linger on your palate.
Overall Impression: Wonderful, I have some for aging further just to see if it changes, but it is super drinkable now.
Rating: I give it a 9/10, awesome beer that is under rated online right now.
Food Pairing: I would go with some dark chocolate truffles or even some 70% dark chocolate from Lindt would be nice.
I dug up a few more MOA bottles from my cellar, will open them soon for more reviews!
West Coast Beer Geek 
Reblogged this on BEER not WAR.
MOA makes some great beer. I will have to pick up some more sooner than later. It has been quite a while.
Agree, I like their creativity too.