Big Sky Ivan the Terrible Imperial Stout

Brewed by Big Sky Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Missoula, Montana USA

Serve in Snifter

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holy moses..pours dark black with big brown head..aroma reeks like rotten fruit... but taste is freaking amazing, chocolate, coffe, bourbon, vanila, extremely smooth for the alc content

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of roasted malt with light lactose and deep creamy black chocolate note is pretty much perfect. Light bourbon and vanilla notes are also perceptible. Taste is pretty much a perfect mix between some bourbon with creamy black chocolate notes, light lactose and light dry roasted malt notes. Body is full with perfect nice creamy texture and good carbonation with no apparent alcohol. Wow, what a surprise this one was with perfect balance and not too much barrel-aging.

750 ml C&C bottle served in a Westbrook tulip. Bottle # 1088/4200 A: Pours an opaque black color with a dark khaki head forming on the pour. It recedes slowly to a thin ring that leaves some splotchy lace down the glass. S: Light bourbon, some dark fruit and a little oak. Sweet chocolate, a little toffee and some roasted malts. T: Light bourbon, milk chocolate and some nice roasted malts. Incredibly smooth with some caramel, oak and dark fruits also popping up in the flavor. There’s barely any heat on the finish. M: Highly drinkable. Light barrel flavors give way to a medium low carbonation level and a heavier mouthfeel. Creamy and smooth with an almost velvet like texture. Not overly chewy or viscous. O: This drank like it was 8%. So incredibly smooth and velvety with just the right amount of carbonation. The barrel flavors were definitely on the light side which added to the drinkability obviously. I’d like to know how many months this spent in the barrel, but either way it was a flavorful and had just enough restraint in the booze department to make it very drinkable. Serving type: bottle

On draft, at Beachwood BBQ (Seal Beach). Pours rich black with a thick, foamy head. Faint aroma of sweet raisin and booze. The first sip hits with figs and bourbon with slight biscotti smooth finish. Medium body for a BA imperial stout. 

Thin pour with a quick tan vanishing head. Nose is full of the whiskey. Taste is boozy, could do with some aging to turn it down a bit. Smokey finish. Not all the hype that I was hoping. Its good but not 99 points good.

2012 bottle 290 of 4200. Dark with little to no head. Aroma is very oaky and dry with hints of vanilla as it warms. Taste is so much better than the smell. Vanilla is very present with some oak among the more subdued typical RIS flavors. Very sweet. Mouthfeel is almost syrupy but surprisingly drinkable. Great stout but I’d be interested to see what a bit more carbonation would do to it.

Growler shared by a friend. Black pour with a medium tan head. Aroma of malt, chocolate, dark fruit, tannins and booze. Malty flavor with molasses and dark fruit before a roasty finish.

To celebrate #2400 and moving to Missoula! Bottle pours a pitch black beer with a thin brown head. Scent is soy and roasted malt. Taste is vanilla, sweet malts with a roasted malt finish.

2012 Bottle 638 of 4200. It pours jet black, not super thick and motor oily. Smell is dried fruit, bourbon, roasted malt, and oak. The body is a bit weak lending a sugary aftertaste and it is tannic the first few sips but overall a well-balanced brew especially for 12.2%. It has a nice hit of bourbon and a nice furitiness. It isn’t bitter or roasty, very much a traditional one but with barrel aging. I like it.

2012 vintage poured from bottle, #3603 of #4200, pours pitch black with a thick light brown head and some sticky lacing, aroma has some nice bourbon notes mixed in with some chocoalte and red wine, the flavor has a nice amount of oak and bourbon on the front end with a sweet finish of dark fruit and chocolate, for sure a sipper, finishes pretty hot and dry, probably would be nice to sit for a few years and open then, but hey, I’m an impatient person.