Bass P2 / Czars Imperial Stout

Brewed by White Shield / Museum (MolsonCoors)
Style: Imperial Stout
Burton-on-Trent, England

Serve in Snifter

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Cask - White Cliffs Festival 2010, Dover. Pours a thick, opaque black with no head. Sticks heavily to the glass’ sides. Full of prunes and plum on the nose with some soy sauce. Really vinuous on the tongue with chewy prune flavours and a tarry, smokey malt bitterness. Creamy and dense on the palate with a lingering heat in the throat. Thick and almost impenetrable at 11am but cracking stuff.

UPDATED: JUL 30, 2008 Hand bottled, by me, from a mini-cask, sorted from the brewery in an grand-scale logistical coup pulled off by cgarvieuk. Cheers to the brewers: I hope you are able to brew to your own lights again at some point in the future, maybe out from under the Coors thumb. You clearly have skills. Really big thanks Craig for working this deal out.

A month and a bit after hand bottling, this still has a really nice level of carbonation. Pours black with a nice layer of persistent light tan head. Soft tinned coffee aroma, like the stuff that comes pre-ground by the gallon. Rubbish to drink, but that first sniff, when you break the foil seal, is lovely. (It’s the souls of all those murdered coffee beans, brutally ground to powder while still so young...so young.) After the coffee, green grapes, milk chocolate. There is an odd stale butter note right after the pour, but that happily dissipates after a swirl or two of the glass. Very soft chocolate flavor with a hint of smoke and an earthy finish. It appears that a month in the bottle (and a month or more in the mini-cask) has given the last brave yeasties a chance finish their work. This is a much better beer than fresh on cask. Less sticky than fresh, and in the absence of the heavy sweetness, I feel like the body actually softens and is much more refined. A nice lingering bitter chocolate finish. Really wish the brewers could bottle this. As nice as cask beer can be, this beer belongs (live, unfiltered) in bottles.

(Previous rating: Gravity, Reading Beer Festival. Black, brown highlights, light tan head. Figgy/date sugar aroma, a nice touch of leather, fumes. Very sweet raw sugar flavor, smokey dark chocolate, rum. Fairly light bodied for the abv. Warming, very flavorful, with the sense that the flavors are pulled from opposite sides of the flavor spectrum. Leather, grapeskin, oyster brine finish. Really fun to have a chance to taste this! 7/4/7/4 15)

Bottle from Fin, Thanks!!! - Very dark brown body with a beautiful red shine, medium sized beige head; Not a very big but on the other hand a very very dense nose, dark malts that become almost tart like mixed well dark sweet caramel aromas, very good; The body is somewhat the same way, watery textured with super dense parts of roasted bitterness, lightly salt and bitter; Tons of aroma is arriving with the finish, again a little thin textured but tar, tobacco, very dark burnt caramel, English licorice makes for very complex aromas. Very interesting beer, that would become amazing with a journey in an old barrel to St Petersburg. Thanks!

Bottle from Beers of Europe. Black pour with a tan head. Dark chocolate, dark fruits, dates, licorice and coffee aroma. Rich old nose this one. Very flavoursome indeed. Demerara sugar, coffee, dark chocolate, licorice toffee, molasses. Dry as a bone. Vinous. Long, sweet dry finish. Lovely stuff!

Cask (gravity) at Burton Winter Ales Festival 2005. Looks good, could be no more black, sharpish malt nose, flavour threatened but never developed so the sweet tinge stuck likes ashes in the mouth. OK but not inspiring.

On tap. Nearly black body with a tiny tan head.Nose of toasted malt and coffee. Sweet flavor with coffee, prunes, chocolate and licorice notes in it. Full bodied, oily texture and flat carbonation. Ends up more dry, slightly bitter and with alcohol notes.

Had this ultimate stout at the Paisley Beer Festival, April 2001. Cask, gravity dispense. Jet black colour with barley brown head. Strong intense aroma of black treacle, dark chocolate and Kirsch notes linger long. Velvet like texture in a smooth mouthfeel and no lacing. Dark complex malts deliver a plethora of flavours with black forest gateaux flavours, notably cherry kirsh prevailing. Sweet flavours of dates, clootie dumpling, treacle toffee, rich plain chocolate and liquorice. No indication of hop resins present in the short aftertaste. Strong dark malt presence in the finish with prunes, roast coffee, bitter chocolate and root liquorice vie for attention. A superbly complex Imperial Stout and one to seek out.

Cask at the rail ale festival 08. Dark dark dark, pretty much black. Not as complex as I thought it would be, not always a bad thing of course and certainly not in this case. Very very drinkable. Liqourice, slight smokiness, dark chocolate, caramel, toffee. Sounds pretty busy but just tasted very nicely balanced. Belter!

Cask at GBBF 2009. Deep brown pour with a nice beige head. Boozy, fruity aroma. Tastes sweet, toffee, dark fruit, chocolate, vanilla, port. Well balanced warming Imperial Stout.

cask at the national brewing visitor’s centre in burton 1 year old brewed in february 2011 Pours dark black and fairly still with not much of a head formation. In the mouth its rich and thick with lots of juicy red fruit, robust malt and a good bitter finish. chocolate and tobacco also make themselves known and just a hint of oxidation helps to bring it all together. lovely