Arcadia Imperial Stout

Consumed on special @ Max’s on Broadway for $3.25 a bottle. Dark as night bodied Impy Stout with chocolate, coffee roasted malts all up against bitterness. Rather enjoyable Imperial Stout enjoyed at Max’s while rocking to hair metal.

12 oz. 2008 bottle. Pours black with dark brown highlights and a quick showing of a short brown head that can be regenerated by swirling and leaves some spotty lace. Aroma of dry dusty cocoa and milk on the front and fresh piney hops in the back. Lots of molasses, boozy dark fruit, and some deep roasty malts as it warms. Big bitter flavor, with cocoa, licorice, and fruity boozy bourbony notes and some light charred wood, which come out even more as it warms. Full bodied, smooth, with moderate fine carbonation and a bitter, warming finish. Not having had many Arcadia beers, I was pleasantly surprised by this excellent imperial stout.

12oz bottle 2/15/09 (Binny’s Naperville)-Pours a black with a huge tan head. Aroma of molasses, chocolate, coffee, and brown sugar. Taste of the same but a little mild with a lot of bubbles. This full bodied brew is another from Arcadia that is either old or bad. If ths is old their description of being able to age is not valid but it is still somewhat tasty.

Pours black with a mixture of tan and dark tan bubbles to make a small head, this ale is dark but I can see small bubbles floating up along the edges of the glass, leaves creamy bubbled lacing on the glass, aromas of dark and milk chocolate, dark roasted malt, and some coffee, faint nut fragrance, flavors of dry dark chocolate, dark roasted malt and some coffee, just like the aromas, burnt dark brown sugar and molasses flavors, has a good hop bitterness at the finish, mouth feel is pretty nice, it is full with some creaminess, this was better than what I expected, very nice.

Bottle. Think and black with a nice tan head. Taste of chocolate and coffee. Smells of roasted coffee.

Smell of roasted malts, cherries. Relatively weak. Deep, deep black, very thin tan head. The flavor is somewhat weak as well. It is a flavor of roasted coffee, slight hint of berries. Relatively strong bitterness in the finish, this definitely has substantial hops for an imp stout. Finish also has a substantial bitter roasted coffee quality, burnt and slightly acidic. Ok beer, not great for this style.

Bottle - Black body, big bubbled lasting mocha head; Simple chocolate, cane sugar sweet nose; Very chocolate bitter body; Very roasted bitter chocolate, acid finish. Not to good!

Bottle courtesy Beachbum. Pours thick and black with a thin tan head. Roasted grain, chocolate malt, dark fruit aroma. Thick chocolate, roasted grain, vanilla, coffee taste. Has a nice oily finish, very good beer.