3.4 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20Bottle sourced from Beer Hawk. Pours a curiously light and brown beer for an imperial stout. Actually it really tastes like a stronger and more boozy version of traditional Black Sheep beer, you can really get the house character. Some dry malt with licorice, bit of fruit cake, not so much of the powerful darker bits of the barrel one might expect from an imperial. Enjoyable.
4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20
Bottle from Trembling Madness in York. Pours dark brown with dark orange glints. Not much head. Boozy dark fruit/dark malt aroma. Full bodied. Flavor is dark fruit, smooth burnt dark malt, and something that’s suggesting anise. I think this is rather complex. It does seem less thick than many ISs, but it’s also got quite a different flavor profile. Very interesting and tasty.
Here’s what I should have gotten: "Initial sweetness quickly followed by a peppery hop which fades into liquorice and chocolate raisins, then a very long warming finish.
We use a touch of wheat which helps deliver the lovely creamy head and lacing down the glass - just what you would expect from a proper Yorkshire beer!"
3.9 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
Sweet fruity aroma, Tart grapefruit flavour, astringent finish. Dark coffee roast but not too bitter or sharp.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Fruity caramel aroma, thin mouthfeel, pretty tame for 8.5% alcohol. Chocolate and dark malt taste, fairly easy to drink. Expected something bigger for an imperial. Nice all the same.
3.4 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 2/5 OVERALL 14/20
330ml bottle - I’ll give a "not bad" for appearance, dark brown body with a small (but lasting) beige head. Chocolate, coffee, liquorice, roasted biscuity nose. Mocha and biscuit taste, bit of a roasted malts in the foreground, but none of the boozy warmth expected for an 8.5% ABV. Bit of a watery mouthfeel, almost like drinking cola with the bit of fizz on the tongue. For an Imperial Stout it is (like others have said) very light, but refreshing at the same time.
2.8 AROMA 4/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 11/20
Pours a dark brown with a tight latte-coloured head. The aroma is dominated by rich stewed fruit. The taste is dark roast with a moderate hop overlay. It’s actually pretty tame for a Russian Imperial. It also finishes very clean, which is unusual but not unpleasant. OK.
4.5 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 18/20
Bottle from BlackHearths&Sparrows. Great, very floral. Aromas of caramel, liquorice, anisette, with hints of alcohol. Taste is sweet, with light sour notes, and long length. Palate is syrupy, and full bodied. Dark brown, with a frothy head.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Cask from The Ale House, Chelmsford. Despite being 8.5%, this is not over powering on alcohol unlike some beers around this percentage. There is vanilla evident and this beer has a very smooth kickback.
3.9 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Cask conditioned handpump Veritas Leeds 12/12/12. A black beer with a tight white head. Rather good. Rich, boozy and roasty. Banana flavours amongst the roast. Warming with a long finish. The banana gives a Weizenbock edge to it. I liked this which shows that Black Sheep can brew good beer if they put their mind to it.
3.2 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Black, but shines dark ruby when light is passed through it. Fruit, maybe plum aroma with a scotch or rum touch. Fruity for a stout, bitter on the after taste.
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