All I can think of at the moment is that scene in Dances With Wolves where Kevin Costner is yelling “Tatonka!” and making little horns with his fingers. Always good for a larf. Watch that movie and see how many times he flops onto his back in a comical manner… I believe the count is 4 which may not seem high but when you focus on it, it… is.

OK… on to the beer! BJ’s, a limited California chain, has some great food and some damn good beer, not to mention excellent prices on their 5 and 7 glass five ounce beer sampler flights. A great way to have a lot of great beer. I could (and likely will eventually) write at some length on each of their 6 standard beers and rotating seasonals, but I’m going to focus on their Tatonka Stout this time. Thus the heading of this review. Yeh…

The Tatonka Stout is BJ’s darkest and most, shall we say, serious offering. It is in the Imperial Stout style, meaning a few things: it is high in ABV (just a hair over 8%—bam!), it is dark as the bajeezus with a thick, creamy head and it is big on flavor. Let’s start with the head and body. That thick creamy foamy top stays with you the whole way. After each sip, you can see a new ring of caramel-white foam clinging to the glass, telling you the history of your beer like so many tree’s rings. The mouthfeel is, in typical Imperial (or “double” sometimes) stout fashion, full but not heavy. It almost has a light milky quality, silkily gliding around until you quaff the beer down.

The taste… big, deep, roasty malt dominates the flavor. The brew has notes of burnt grain, coffee and black bread to it. Those bold flavors are balanced by a bracing hop bitterness that begins to overtake your your tastebuds after the finish*. I love it, but for the more timid, callow, foppish among us, the powerful flavors and unique body of this Imperial stout may be too much. Not that their opinions count.

* Awesome alliteration as always, Captain!