Bièropholie Impériale Stout

Formerly brewed at Bièropholie
Style: Imperial Stout
, Canada

Bottle from Blankboy and crew. 2005 vintage. Pours black in color, attractive and fairly long lived brown head. Good lacing. Aroma is full of chocolate and cocoa as indicated. Quite roasty, pleasant just to sit and sniff. Full bodied, coating. Flavor is a touch acrid/astringent, nothing horrible but a little more than I would want. Fairly lingering hop bitterness. All in all a well crafted beer.

Bottle from Santa (beerbuzzmontreal), split with boboski and SoLan. Bottle is white lettering with a black background and the upper right corner has "Edition Speciale" (or something like that, I can’t remember) printed. It poured a thick black with a very dark head - most imperials dont’t have heads this dark. An intense espresso-cocoa powder aroma dominates, but there’s oak and black licorice notes as well. Palate is medium-bodied but has a chalky quality to it that lends an interesting dimension to the cocoa flavors. Roasted malt and espresso flavors yield to a finish that is heavy on the cocoa flavors along with some hops. An interesting brew - the aroma is unique, and the flavor is quality, but not as much as the aroma.

2005B 341mL bottle from HogTownHarry, thank you Harry! Black body with a one finger dark brown head, fading slowly. Aroma is dark chocolate and milk chocolate--very chocolatey--vanilla beans, light roasted malts, juicy raisins, very mild soy. Flavor is much more roasty with a dry coffee (not roasted malts as some folk interchange the two since they are somewhat alike) bitter finish. I also picked up some piney hops and a fair amount of sourness and acidity Body is a bit thinner than I would’ve liked with low smooth carbonation. Very nice beer overall.

2005 vintage. Extremely dark pour... the darkest of the dark. Frothy brown head. Aroma has roasty and bourbony dark chocolate. Very chocolatey. Taste is a full, rich roasty chocolate.

Bottle, from tade with hopdog. Good aroma, Milk chocolate mainly, little coffee and viney. Brownish black color, nice sized dark brown head that faded to a ring. Little to no lace. Bitter flavor, the viney thing is dominant, a lite citrusy, lemon/lime, and baking chocolate. medium body, smooth creamy mouthfeel, bitter finish. Good, though I didin’t like the mix on the flavor overall. Thanks hopdog.

341mL bottle, 2005B vintage, courtesy of HogTownHarry. Thanks, Harry! Pours a pitch-black core with thin translucent edges; almost oily appearance; dark tan head with light retention and strong lacing. Plenty of milk chocolate in the aroma, charred malts, and a slightly vegetal note (think: 2006 Dark Lord). Suggests slight greatness. Full, viscous mouthfeel: plenty of smoke and charred malts, slightly oily, smooth, with bitter chocolate and the hint of a foreign-stout lactic tartness. Lengthy finish: dry, with plenty of charred malts.

2005 vintage 7.7%abv on bottle. Pours to a jet black body w/ a big tan head and some thick lacing. Very nice well roasted malts hints of coffee and a bitter sweet chocolate chip aroma. Palate is well coated and dry on the tongue. Flavor is a dry chalky chocolate some nice roast grains. All in all a very dry taste, reallly doesn’t seem to live up to its imperial name.

Courtesy of csbosox at Hopscotch’s Post-GABF tasting. Slightly lactic with chocolate, espresso and cocoa. Deep black with a firm and lasting dark brown head. Big esspresso flavored fore followed by dry cocoa both dark and milk chocolate notes and a strong burnt roast bitterness. The finishes delivers a slightly tart twang I found off putting, but this beer is pretty damn nice in all other respects.