In what could be considered a preview of their first anniversary release, Conquest on Saturday tapped a one-off keg of a 12.4% imperial stout dubbed The Beginning. The beer was brewed with runnings from The Finisher, the 17.5% imperial stout which the brewery plans to release early next year.

The story of The Beginning goes like this: When the first batch of The Finisher was brewed a few weeks ago, the primary fermentation got a little out of hand, causing an excess of foam to blow off of the fermenter. Instead of letting that beer go to waste, the runoff was collected and fermented in its own batch, yielding five gallons of what became The Beginning.

The beer was available at the brewery Saturday night only. Bottles of The Finisher will be sold at the brewery in a couple of months.