This was the first stout I had ever brewed, so a lot of the process was still new to me back then. The goal was to make it sweet, smooth and not too roasty but in the same time giving it more complex underlying flavours, which is why I decided to experiment with wood aging and bourbon. Once the beer had fully fermented, I transferred it to a different vessel where it conditioned for another 30 days on a mix of vanilla beans and medium toasted oak chips soaked in Wild Turkey Rare Breed bourbon. I had never used any of these in a beer before so I had to be careful not to overdo it, however the first batch turned out really good, especially after a few months conditioning in the bottle. Knowing that this stout had the potential to grow in complexity over time, I decided to take the ABV to imperial levels so that flavors could continue to evolve over time in the bottle. I bumped up the fermentables and tweaked the adjuncts, batch by batch, until it ended up exactly how I wanted it. Now, after several years of aging in the cellar, it makes for a great sipping beer in the cold season while spinning some vinyl and enjoying some tunes.