 chris_o (4409), London, Greater London, England
Oct 1, 2006 Updated: Nov 3, 2007
Bottle at RBSG Grand Tasting, July 2006. Same session as, but unfortunately not alongside, the barrel aged version. Pitch black. Massive coffee aroma. Big and chewy. Bold and brassy. Chocolate on the palate, but still dominated by coffee. A bit toned down in the barrel-aged version, which I’m not convinced is a plus. Fair amount of hoppy bitterness to prevent it getting too one-dimensional. Obviously alcoholic. Very impressive. I marginally prefer the normal version to the barrel aged; the brashness of this beer is what I like about it.
mtjoseph (24), Murderapolis, Minnesota, USA
Sep 4, 2008 Bottle. Nice dark pour with no head what so ever. Just a slight like ring of foam around the top. A fairly pleasant aroma of chocolate, coffee, and roasted malt. Upon tasting, caramel really came to the forefront. Wish there was more of a coffee flavor, because it is masked a little bit by the bitterness of the chocolate and sweetness of the caramel. Overall, a fairly solid imperial stout, but a little over hyped.
Frauditor (127), Hagerstown, Maryland, USA
Sep 3, 2008 Big bottle at OTR thanks to devin. this one started a fire under the canopy. tried to put it out with multiple cans of coors with no luck.
fredandboboflo (500), East Setauket, New York, USA
Sep 3, 2008 Bottle. Aroma of alcohol, bitter chocolate, standard coffee. Flavor was coffee, the chocolate, and lots of very nice vinous qualities. Mouthfeel was a bit off for me, odd tingly carbonation, unusually clean for an impy, not at all rich and creamy, even when I tried to swirl out the carbonation that was throwing me off. All that vinousness reveals this beer to me as unquestionably worthy, but I can’t say I was nearly as impressed as a 4.35 would suggest.
LilBeerDoctor (501), East Setauket, New York, USA
Sep 2, 2008 Bottle thanks to iowaherkeye (thanks Joey!). Pours black with a thick dark tan head. Aroma is quite awesome--coffee, chalky bitter chocolate, nice roasted malt. Flavor is a little boozy, some sweet roasted malt, coffee but not too much (compared to other coffee impys), biting carbonation. Very thick, yet smooth. Quite enjoyable, although not the best of its style, in my opinion.
carruthm (388), Seattle, Washington, USA
Sep 1, 2008 loads of dark chocolate on a dark black pour with a tan head. great body. Alcohol evident but not overpowering and minimalized if you sip instead of drink.
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