Does it exist?  You tell me.  It's not listed on their website.  I'm not talking about Area 51, Smoking Man, the black cancer, or the Trilateral Commission.  I'm talking about Brooklyn Brewing's mysterious barrel aged stout, the Black Ops, which has just returned to Chicago. That is, if it really existed.  Had I taken a break from all of the Christmas brews that are out there, that I plan to write about en masse soon, I would have gone over to Armanetti's Beverages or perhaps Lush Wine & Spirits and perhaps purchased some Black Ops.  I might have even had a glass of this possibly non-existent beer. 

Had I done so, I perhaps could have told you that it comes in a large black bottle with the brewery name impressed upon it in old school raised glass.  I might have added that it emerges from the bottle into your glass in ninja black color with a dark tan head.  Maybe I would have mentioned that it smells of bourbon, chocolate, bourbon, pumpernickel, and, as an added bonus, bourbon. 

This allegedly existent 11% beer might also have an exceedingly strong bourbon flavor and be hot with alcohol, have a very light – alarmingly light – mouthfeel, and mild hints of chocolate, vanilla, and graininess.  I might have gone so far as to reveal the classified info that it's so overly hot with bourbon, it probably needs to sit down for a year or two before it can truly be enjoyed.  

It might be available at Armanetti's or Lush.  It might sell for around $25 a bottle.  It might be one of the better bourbon barreled offerings out there.  Maybe it's worth the mystery and speculation surrounding it.  

And you didn't read this.   Black Ops is keeping a file on you. 

I mean, of course, if it existed.

–M. Sheppard