mabel (1710), Toronto, Ontario, Canada Jan 6, 2008 [879-20071201] 500mL (Xmas Party 2007, beerhugger & guests). Boozy roasted malt aroma has a bit of chocolate. Black body with a long-lasting creamy tan head. Bitter roasted coffee malt flavour has roasty hops. Full body has a stinging quality to it. Really nice but a little single dimensional.
adrian910ss (1051), philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Dec 2, 2008 16.9 oz bottle. Pours a black color with a medium light brown head. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee beans, chocolate, and cocoa powder. Taste of rich roasted malts, chocolate, bitter coffee beans and cocoa. Blom (368), Odense, Denmark Nov 20, 2008 Thick and black with a brown head. Powerful aroma of coffee, chocoalte and roasted malts. The flavours are huge with notes of vanilla, raisins, coffee, cafe latte and dark chocolate. This is really something! rlgk (3239), Motala, Sweden Nov 1, 2008 (EBF 2008). Black color, creamy brown head. Milky, malty aroma with vanilla and licorice. Malty, oily licorice flavor, tar and cocoa, slaty, spicy and with quite alot of chocolate. austone (580), Turku; Pori, Finland Oct 20, 2008 2007 version, warm tap at EBF. Black with beautiful creamy cappucino head. Smooth liquorice aroma, sweet malts and cocoa. Flavor is sweet liquorice, cocoa, syrupy burned malts, molasses, mentholey finish. Full bodied, silky carbonation. Great american style impy. FlacoAlto (2216), Tucson, Arizona, USA Oct 15, 2008 <b>Bottle 22 / 400, Batch 5, Best By Date March 2010; Sampled 2nd RB Tucson Tasting, September 2008</b><br />
Pours with a darkish, brown colored head that sits on top of a simply, opaque, black beer. There is lots of roast malt character in the aroma with notes of dark cocoa, darkly roasted coffee beans, and a finish that almost has a smoky note to it with its concentrated malt aromas. There is a touch of earthiness to the nose as well as some light notes similar to burnt, dried figs.<br /><br />
This is lightly sweet tasting at first, which accentuates some dark cocoa notes, but a substantial roast character quickly kicks in and counters the sweetness with ample coffee notes and a very deep, roast bitterness that dominates the finish. The roast character accentuates quite a bit of charcoal-like acidity and some harsh, acrid notes. Alcohol definitely adds to the harshness in the finish as well. This is a bit more enjoyable than I may be making out to be, but it can be quite harsh in the finish at time; ultimately the roast character seems to be a bit more than the base malt character can support (but that is probably just me).
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