Ellezelloise Hercule Stout

Brewed by Ellezelloise
Style: Imperial Stout
Ellezelles, Belgium

Deep, dark brown; tan head; some floaties. Nice body ... carbonation, weight and mouthfeel. Tasty flavors throughout, such as chocolate, sweet toast and toffee, with hints of coffee and a little burntness. I liked how it wasn’t too sweet, and it had a nice level of bitterness that eventually surfaced and left notes of baker’s chocolate. Dryish finish with nice lingering flavors. A little warming in the throat, but the alcohol melded well. Quite enjoyable.

Sampled at Au Trappiste in Paris, France. Dark Brown. Subtle but enjoyable aroma with notes of milk chocolate, dark fruits (grapes mainly) and lettuce leaves. Round and full bodied with a rich and complex maltiness through. Milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee and dark fruits (grapes, figs and plums). Finish has a pleasant hop bite and a lingering note of chocolate coated cookies.

03 or 04 bottle (not sure). 9% abv version. Pours a deep deep olive/grey-brown with some very dark burgundy-violet tinges on the side and a very large creamy beige colored head. Bottle conditioned. Aroma is wonderfully vinous and fruity; concord grapes, prunes, vanilla, licorice, caramel. Wow. This beer is ultimate vindication of my thoughts that bigger isn’t necessarily better. This one has only a medium to medium full body, no huge bitter hops assault or mountains of thick chewy malt, but what it has is elegance and just pure, great flavor. Being a fan of English barleywines, which this reminds me of is some ways, I can’t help but admire the flavor profile. Plenty of lightly sweet toffee, lots of a winy/pruniness and a tasty but smooth yeast flavor. Plenty of chocolate, moderate bitterness on the finish. Oily, smooth body, soft, gentle, barely perceptible carbonation. Little bit of ethanol on the finish, mixed with some strong fruit phenols. I highly disagree that Imperial Stouts should be left to UK and US brewers. I’d love to see more such as these.

Pours a quickly vanishing brown head. Black coloured with yeast particles on the bottom. Aroma is chocolate, coffee, and a liquor-filled cake we call "pan di spagna". Full bodied, with an alcoholic mouthfeel, hints of cocoa and a nice hoppy finish. One of my favourites.

Bottle bought in Belgium. Swing top, 330ml. 8.4% ABV. I’m not a huge fan of imperial stouts, but I picked this up because I knew it was well liked. Tasty roasty stoutness, winey with alcohol apparent. Tasty.

I was mildly disappointed in this as I have had bottles with much more to them.Foam had that Root Beer float appearance and the brew wasn’t pitch black but was dark brown bordering black.Okay,so roasted malts and maybe some mild chocolate but more bland than exciting.The longer it sat the more body it picked up. Re-Rate:new bottle.Totally different brew this time around with much more defined flavors

Cloudy brown with thick off-white head. Malt marshmallow, coffee, chocolate, Port, and syrup(maple). Light at first in the mouth with a light finish. Coffee, chocolate, dry, carmel all light flavors. The finish presents roasted notes and a light bitterness that lingers. All in all a nice beer and it improves a bit with some air.

33 cL bottle, snifter. Caramel, chocolate, coffee, roasted malt (H); flower, herb, grass hops (M); doughy yeast (L); red grape, plum, port, tobacco, soy sauce, brown sugar aromas. Deep black body with a tall, creamy, off-white head that lasts well. Heavily sweet, lightly acidic flavor becomes a moderately sweet, lightly bitter finish. Nice roastiness in the finish. Medium-full body, oily texture, average carbonation. The bottom line is: a tasty impy that has an undeniable (and somewhat undefineable) belgian twist.