Arcadia Imperial Stout

Bottle. Big chocolate malt and a very prominent role given to black currants. A bit too sweet! Rum raisin. and subtle roast round out the nose. Pitch pour with a creamy dark brown head. Taste is, again, smothered with black currant and raisin, perhaps just a touch of woody bourbon. Dark, smooth French roast coffee in second place, definitely toned down from espresso, with a brush of citric hops in the back and a good deal of alcohol showing. Lightish, oily body, dry creamy after. Inky. Very light and very smooth (save the excessive warming on the back end), a different kind of imperial stout.

Bottle, 2007. Pourd black with a small tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, light coffee, alcohol. Overall pretty nice, though typical impy stout. Taste is a little watery with some malt and hop bitterness. Malts dominate, though the brew is a little lighter in flavor than the nose indicates. FInish is bitter, and mouth is thinner than expected.

12 ounce bottle in pint glass. Blacker than Dick Cheney’s soul. Flatter than Keira Knightley. Something went wrong here. Well, at least I know that the date code is E2, whatever the fuck that means. Anyhow, some nice roasted chocolate/coffee flavor unblended with some underlying hop bitterness and some water floating around in between. Probably a good beer, but I gotta call ’em as I drink ’em, and this one is didn’t make it. And I shoulda known because the label was peeling off, always a bad sign. Sorry. I would have given more points or not had this experience at all if I could have deciphered the date code.

2007 bottling. Jet black with a fleeting tan head. Big aroma is tobacco with blackened malts. Smooth medium body. Good taste is bitter charred malts balanced by sweet dark berry fruit and tobacco juice. A little on the sweet side but still enjoyable.

Black gold, sweet aroma, flavors of malt, fruit and Java... Tasty finish, A high quality imperial, very enjoyable...