Avery The Czar Imperial Stout

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Boulder, Colorado USA

A great beer, no doubt about it. It pours pitch black, and as you drink it, the face on the bottle stares at you with great urgency, mesmerizing you - while at the same time, reminding you to strive for greatness in all of your life’s endeavours. Yes folks, this is one serious beer. However, I can’t rate it quite as highly as its Colorado neighbor, Great Divide’s Yeti Imperial Stout. While The Czar is a worthy contender, its higher alcohol content seems to detract ever so slightly from the overall experience. For all its greatness, it doesn’t quite have the flavor, the drinkability, and that certain something that propels a beer into the "elite" stratosphere, where beers like Yeti and Old Rasputin reside.

Serving: 22 oz. bottle from Total Wine Sterling. It pours almost pitch black with a nice sized dark tan head. Good head retention and lacing. The nose is very roasty with notes of herbal hops and slight burnt notes. The taste is very roasty as well with notes of dark fruit, coffee, slight bitter hops, and a warming alcohol. The alcohol does a very nice job of playing well with the flavors. The mouthfeel is very rich with medium-low carbonation and a medium-long, bitter finish. This is a very solid brew that I will certainly seek out and keep in the cellar.

Aroma is mostly alcohol, with a little bit of maple syrup. Looks the way a stout should: dark brown, caramel head, though a little thin. Taste is dominated by strong alcohol flavor, but buttery, butterscotchy, caramelly, general sweet flavors are mixed up in there. A little watery for a stout, for my taste

Bottle from the Eastchase Majestic. Almost black pour with a nice head. Aroma is chocolate, coffee, and lots of malt. Taste is dark chocolate, and roasted malts.

2009 bottle courtesy of Fratto. Dark red color that edges on black. Creamy head. Sweet chocolate malt smell. Thick but sweet. Taste is sharp sweet flavor. Almost a candied sweetness. Cool. Dark flavors. Chocolate malts. Lightly bitter sweet taste.

Have a nice head, good taste of liquorice, chocolate, and hops, the alchohol %, is not so harch, and the alchohol is tasteble, but not dominating,

Well, apparently I have some of the 2007 batch according to the info here on ratebeer... 11.73 ABV... and wow. Candy! Both candied fruit-- perhaps the currants mentioned-- and anise candy. Both very sweet and very bitter. Some citrus hops in the aftertaste. Nice!

Bottle 09 I believe. A reddish black color pour with a thin light tan head , quickly fading leaving spotty lacing , light carbonation . Aroma of dark roasted coffee , cocoa , and booze , slightly earhty . FLavor of dark fruit , roasted malt , light coffee and chocolate , tobacco,quite boozy ,and sweet , oily mouthfeel , thin body for the style in my opinion . Long boozy finish . A good stout for sure , quite drinkable but not what im looking for in a RIP .