In the beginning, there was imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels.

And it was good.

Then came the coconut, coffee, vanilla beans, chile peppers, mint, hazelnut, maple syrup, cinnamon, chocolate, cocoa nibs, various nuts and endless amounts of fruit.

Some of it was good.

Some of it was not so good.

And some of it was undrinkable.

When pioneered in the mid-1990s, imperial stout aged in whiskey-soaked charred oak was a gorgeous melding of beer meeting barrel, then blended to perfection: naturally occurring notes of chocolate, char, vanilla, coconut, marshmallow, bourbon and oak.

In recent years, a craft beer industry forever intent on finding the next big thing has drowned its barrel-aged stouts in endless adjuncts, adding flavor upon flavor upon flavor until the original character is lost in a haze of sweetness and spice.

Beer drinkers call them pastry stouts.

Revolution Brewing has had just about enough.

Chicago’s largest brewery not named Goose Island or Lagunitas is releasing a whopping eight beers this winter for its increasingly ambitious Deep Wood Series of barrel-aged beers. Six of them have no adjuncts. The two that do have one adjunct each: coffee and cherry. The relative simplicity is very much by design.

“Honestly, I don’t get excited by putting extra things in beer,” Revolution brewmaster Jim Cibak said. “At a great winery, if they want peach character, they don’t put peach in — they know what grapes will get peach character. As brewers, we’re looking to showcase our barrels.

All eight Deep Wood beers will be released in four-packs of 12-ounce cans and priced at the Revolution taproom at $25, $30 or $35. That maps out to a per-ounce price decrease — yes, decrease — from last year, when just four barrel-aged beers were released, and in 22-ounce bottles. This year’s crop will be released at four separate release parties in November, December and January at Revolution’s taproom (3340 N. Kedzie Ave.).

The beers and their release dates will be:

Nov. 17 and 18

Deth’s Tar (imperial oatmeal stout aged in bourbon barrels; 14.8 percent alcohol; widely available in Revolution’s eight-state distribution network)

Cafe Deth (Deth’s Tar steeped with Dark Matter and Gaslight coffee beans; 14.8 percent; limited distribution)

Deth by Cherries (Deth’s Tar with cherry puree added; 13.1 percent; taproom only)

Dec. 8

Ryeway to Heaven (imperial rye ale aged in rye whiskey barrels; 13 percent; taproom only)

Very Special Old Deth (Deth's Tar aged two years in bourbon barrels; 13.4 percent; limited distribution)

Jan. 12

Straight Jacket (barleywine aged in bourbon barrels; 13.1 percent; limited distribution)

Mineshaft Gap (Straight Jacket aged in Cognac barrels; 14.3 percent; taproom only)

Double Barrel Very Special Old Deth (aged one year in bourbon barrels, one year in Woodford Reserve Double Oaked and Whistle Pig 10-year rye barrels, then blended; 17 percent; taproom only)

(You might want to read all that again.

We’ll wait.

OK.

Moving on.)

Revolution’s Deep Wood Series has morphed in recent years, from mostly porters in 22-ounce bottles to the new motif: mostly stouts in 12-ounce cans. That’s likely to be the case going forward.

The 12-ounce can has been a rare vessel for such high-octane beers, but Revolution sees it as a superior fit, compared with the typical 22-ounce or 750-milliliter bottle. It allows for a single hearty serving or can be an ideal size to split. (For real: Six ounces of 14 percent stout is just about perfect.) A 22-ounce bottle practically demands an occasion unto itself.

But what excites Revolution brewers most is the beer itself, and the complexity derived from the simplicity of aging stout in wood with no other tricks.

The exception are the two stouts featuring coffee and cherry. Revolution sees them as barely a stretch compared with some other stouts showing up these days.

“They’re classic adjuncts for the style — not that out there,” Marty Scott, who manages the barrel program, said. “They have a following. Everyone knows a cherry stout and at least one coffee stout. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel.”

Don’t worry. Should you prefer Butterscotch Peppermint Black Licorice Banana Pepper Stout, Revolution is there for you; a lengthy list of single-keg versions of busily flavored beers will be available at each tapping events.

“We’ll have some adjunct-heavy beers for that crowd,” Scott said.

But not too many.

“We’re a little selfish and like to brew what we like to drink,” Cibak said. “We’re not sitting around a table saying, ‘What do you think people will think is cool?’ I have to face my friends and don’t want to be laughed at because I put some weird crap in my beer.”

jbnoel@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @hopnotes