 estoppel (960), Buffalo, New York, USA
May 5, 2008
Bottle. Dark reddish-brown body, medium tan head, fruity, slightly funky aroma, all sorts of junk floating in the body. Sourish, fruity, some late roastiness. Very thin body for the style. Pretty bad and a good argument for the proposition that imperial stouts are, in fact, overrated on this web site. I cannot imagine how this crap got a 3.65 as of this writing.
beerbill (1141), Laurel, New York, USA
Jun 19, 2008 11.2 oz. bottle courtesy of a trade with SoLan. This one is a very lively pour. Even pouring it very slowly down the side of the glass it took me three pours to empty the bottle. The body is very dark brown that allows no light to pass through. The head is massive and uneven and disappears by mid-glass. Pleasant aroma of lightly roasted malt, very light smoke, alcohol and some apple. The flavor is malt with a bit of tobacco, followed by a tangy, almost tart flavor that I did not care for. Fairly strong alcohol flavor is present as well. Too much carbonation and thin on the palate, especially for an imperial stout.
CapedBrewsader (174), Brasschaat, Belgium
Jun 16, 2008 33 cl bottle at Cambrinus (Brugge): Very dark cloudy ruby-brown with creamy tan head. Aromas of cherry, caramel, raw cane sugar and a touch of wood. Grainy touches. Slight toasted bread. Something lightly tart comes and goes. Roast comes in the middle but is more pronounced at the end. Roast flavor is mild but definitely there. Cherry and some other dark fruits in middle. Goes to yeast and herb in the finish. Some alcohol in back of throat. Nice beer but I wouldn’t call it an imperial stout.
PilsnerPeter (1303), Flushing, New York, USA
Jun 9, 2008 Bottle: Deep brown pour with a ruby hue and a huge frothy tan head. Interesting aroma. Sweet, fruity, herbal and smoky altogether. Has some apple skins, dark cocoa, alcohol, toffee, wood, and mild vinous qualities. Complex aroma. The mouthfeel is frothy, a bit prickly with a strong alcohol presence. Mild tartness with fruit skin tannins, meshing with chocolate and very mild vinous qualities. Then darker flavors are detectable of tobacco, grainy dark cocoa, and charred roast. Fairly unique and very complex but too much alcohol is apparent. If this had less alcohol flavor it’d be very good.
twitcher (94), framingham, Massachusetts, USA
Jun 2, 2008 (from notes) Main problem with this one- if the rating was for a Quad, it would be marginally better; this brew is stuck in some bad place between wanting to be a stout and being brewed like a Quadruple. QC problems also show up- very overcarbonated, nasty head. Smells of heavy sweets, dark fruits. Flavor is all wrong (for a stout)- raisins, candy sugar, yeasty twang. Very slight chocolate/caramel notes, overpowered by dark fruity sweetness.
Mildy interesting- if it was a take on a Quad. As a "stout"- shit.
kramer17801 (1831), sunbury, Pennsylvania, USA
May 30, 2008 12 oz bottle, via SoLan and TheCheeseMan. Pours a very murky dark brown body with a very fizzy light brown head. Lots and lots of vigorous carbonation. Very odd aroma, lots of heavy yeast, a good bit of chalkiness, light roast, chocolate, alcohol. Very fruity, lots of plums and raisins. Chalky and yeasty flavor with more toasted and chocolate malts than roastiness. This seems more like a Belgian Brown than an Imperial Stout. I really just don’t get this beer. Mouthfeel is way way over carbonated for my tastes, and fairly thin overall. It just foams up as it hits the tongue. Overall, I really just don’t get or like what’s going on here, and I tend to like the more oddball Stouts.
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