I discovered BuckleDown Brewing just last year thanks to my sixth sense for beer and a postponed flight.

I’d been at the airport-adjacent brewery for an hour when I pulled out my phone and saw that my plane was delayed by two hours. I actually smiled. Not because my schedule was royally screwed, but because I’d just polished off a pint of BuckleDown’s Significant Bourbon Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout, and I really -- I mean, really -- wanted another.

I’d been searching for a place to stop near the airport rather than killing time at some banal bar in the terminal, when I found a stellar Yelp review of this brewery I’d never heard of. People were raving about it! I checked Tripadvisor and found a 5-star rating, plus even more happy comments.

When I arrived the bartender told me they’d recently released a batch of Significant Stout, just the thing to warm me up on a frigid Chicago afternoon. With intensely aromatic bourbon and chocolate character balanced against more subtle notes of licorice and vanilla, it was bound to raise my temperature a few degrees. Especially with its warm, oaky finish and 12% ABV.

It was so good I knew I had to bring it to Tavour. It turned out our members agreed (it warmed them up too!) -- they rated last year’s Significant an almost unheard of 4.20!

After two pints of this Barrel Aged Russian Imperial Stout I was feeling pretty merry, but I managed to call an Uber and get to the airport. The lines at security stretched for what seemed like miles, but I cruised through with a smile, still riding that chocolate wave of Bourbony goodness. As I settled in for the flight a pleasant drowsiness overcame me, and I drifted off to sleep. You know what I dreamt of? Give you one guess.

Rated 4.20 on Tavour; 4.18 on Untappd

Packaged On November 5th, 2018