Alone Under the Vast Indifference of the Sky 2021

Alone Under the Vast Indifference of the Sky 2021 Review

Dageraad Brewing’s annual release Alone Under the Vast Indifference of the Sky is a Belgian-style Imperial Stout from featuring sour cherries and Brettanomyces. The 2021 version of Alone was brewed this past June and bottle-aged before its release last week.

A portion of the 2020 run was barrel-aged to create Entropy Series No. 22: The Vast Indifference of Cocoa Nibs, also released last week, making for a pair of super-potent cold weather beers.

The beer pours a very dark reddish brown, close to black.

On the nose, there’s an acetic, red wine-like quality. Its aroma is not at all reminiscent of a traditional Russian Imperial Stout, but that’s because this is an Imperial Stout in name only; the use of the appelation is in a neo-hybrid North American context and not the classic 19th century UK context. But if you came for the RIS, that’s OK, you’ll stay for the potent mouthfeel, strength and flavour.

With the addition of both oats (for smoothness) and Brett (for funk), this is a beer that makes your palate go ‘hmmm’. There’s a mild acidic bite from the Brett, but it’s offset by the oats’ silkiness. The mouthfeel is distinctly more dense than the barrel-aged 2020 variation we reviewed last week, and there’s less alcoholic pepper.

The star of the show is Vast’s flavour; this brew packs flavour in spades. You get chocolate and red wine at the same time. There are rich chocolate flavours, as well as dark fruit.

For some, Vast Indifference might be a mixed bag because you have a hybrid of a Belgian and British approach. But that’s why a beer like this is worth experiencing.

Dageraad Entropy Series No. 22: The Vast Indifference of Cocoa Nibs