Avery The Czar Imperial Stout

Brewed by Avery Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Boulder, Colorado USA

Bomber, bottled in 2007. Pours very dark brown with a slight reddish tint and a small brown head. Aromas of raisins, molasses, cocoa, coffee, vanilla, brown sugar, alcohol/soy sauce, and tons of sweet roasty malts. Taste is sweet with caramel and brown sugar, alcohol, and a flood of bitter hops and espresso in the finish. It has a warming and creamy mouthfeel. This has medium body, moderate carbonation, and hits me on the back of the tongue, lending a bitter/sour quality to the finish along with the aforementioned coffee. As this warms, the aftertaste blends bitter coffee notes with sweet apricots, dates, figs, and sugar cane, and it becomes more oily and chewy. I think this is great, lots of complex aromas and flavors going on.

Aroma is mostly alcohol, with a little bit of maple syrup. Looks the way a stout should: dark brown, caramel head, though a little thin. Taste is dominated by strong alcohol flavor, but buttery, butterscotchy, caramelly, general sweet flavors are mixed up in there. A little watery for a stout, for my taste, but it’s just right for this subzero weather.

A: Chicken noodle soup. Very vegetal. A: Dark brown, not quite black. Minimal lacing. T: Beefmato. Once again this has a major vegetable flavor. I dunno if it’s DMS or what, but between the vegetal and meaty flavors all I can compare the flavor to is Beefmato. P: Feels pretty good if not a touch watery, nice texture and adequate carbonation.....but the Beefmato flavor....nasty! Even without the Beefmato flavors this beer just doesn’t look like an imperial stout, and the mouthfeel is too watery.

Bottle (small sample). Dark brown pour, tan head. Huge chocolate and coffee on the nose and in taste. Body is medium - not oily and thick like some Impy Stouts.

’07 batch far into Noogfest ’09. Pours black with a receding tan head. Rich chocolate taste and aroma. Darker chocolate finish with some alcohol and caramel.

Not the blackest of the black, but black, with reddish highlights. Thick tan head, mild filmy lacing. Aroma is unique, interesting and good. Licorice, bananas, fresh baked bread, molasses, also a hint of pure malt. The palate is rich and smoky and syrupy. Leans a bit towards the sweet side, a bit of toffee, more molasses and a bit of hops at the end. Very nice.

2008 batch. Pours black with a thick creamy head. Thick globs of lacing cling to the glass. Aromas of malt, alcohol and a bit of vanilla. Not as complex smelling as some imperials I’ve tried. The alcohol is not as dominant in the flavor as in the aroma, but it does leave a satisfying warmth. Sweet dominates, but is not overpowering. Hop flavors noted in some reviews has mostly faded at this point. There’s some licorice in there but not enough chocolate for my palate. The finish is just a little on the sour side. Mouthfeel is nice, but just a bit thin for an impy, at least to my preference. Pretty good overall, but not up to the level of others in this category.

2008 batch, poured oily black with little to no head with not much aroma, but the taste of sweet coffee and chocolate with some nice bittering hops and smoky ending makes this a delicious RIS!