Buxton Tsar

Brewed by Buxton
Style: Imperial Stout
Buxton, England

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle @ Odense Tasting, November 2012. Pours black with a creamy beige head and lacings. Grapefruit, tar, ashes and roast. Smooth and sticky. Warmth from alcohol.

Bottle. Pours black, with a minimal tanned creamy head. Aroma is caramel malts, chocolate and coffee. Full creamy body with soft carbonation. Flavour is very pleasant and nicely balanced with roasted malts, caramel, toffee, chocolate and cocoa.

Close to pitch-black, very small head. Stewed dark fruits, resinous hops, tobacco and dark chocolate on the nose. Piny American hops, espresso, dark chocolate, dark fruits and wood smoke in the taste. Thick, chewy mouthfeel. Another winner from Buxton.

Almost black dark stout. No head when poured. Boozy flavor with some oakiness. Slick palate. Serving: Bottle

Tasted from the bottle @North bar, Leeds, on 02/11/2012. Pours of absolutely oily black colour, with a lovely chocolate brown head. Aroma is medium to high, notes of sweet chocolate and floral hops, a hint of coffee above. Taste is very smooth, slightly acidic, lots of proper coffee and roasted malts, a bit woody in the end. Aftertaste has mostly roasted notes plus a mediocre bitterness from hops. Recommended. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

12 oz bottle and served in Bells tulip: Pours pitch black with a small fading frothy tan head, okay spotty lace. The aroma has notes of milk chocolate, roast, char, walnuts, leather, pipe tobacco, some herbal and grassy noble hop esters along with a dash of PNW citrus hops too. Some coffee, plums and lactic acid found as well on the nose. The taste is malt forward and a bit ashy, heavy roast and some dark fruits. Light coffee and moderate English hop bitterness before the char bittered finish. The mouthfeel is smooth and easy to drink but seems a tad weak for the genre. Overall, it is drinkable and hits all the high points but still missing the finer aspects of the better Imperial Stouts. That said, I bet this would be .2-.4 higher if on cask.

Bottle. Head is initially small, frothy, brown, mostly lasting. Body is absolutely opaque black (flashlight tested). Aroma is moderately malty (milk chocolate, cocoa), lightly hoppy (flowers), with notes of vanilla and lactose, light notes of ashtray and leather. Flavor is heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is moderately sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Medium body, creamy texture, soft carbonation, moderately alcoholic. This one gets points primarily for the appearance and creamy mouthfeel...other than that it’s not really got much going for it. It has very little (if any) roast, and smells pretty strongly of milk sugar, so it comes off like a strong milk stout. Not unpleasant at all, but it’s really hard to think of this as an Imperial Stout. Very sweet in the mouth without much to balance, so it’s hard to drink more than a few sips.

Cask (apparently about a year old) at IndyManBeerCon, 2012. It pours near black, with a thick tan head. The nose is roasted malt, burnt toast, dark fruit, varnish, wood, coffee, liquorice and earth. The taste is roasted malt, charcoal, smooth, scorched earth, light acidity, salted caramel, some chocolate and underlying alcohol warmth. Full body and soft carbonation. Rich, smooth and sumptuous. Balance is sport on. I greatly preferred this to the fresh bottle I had recently. Great stuff!

Bottle at home (Bitter Virtue) - 23/09/12. Very dark brown with a dirty tan had that soon thins to a pond. Sweet roasted malts on the nose, pine and hops - like RIS meets Black IPA in many ways, molasses, chocolate, marshmallow and a little coffee. Chocolate and coffee dominate the taste, a little like chocolate maltesers! Roasted malts and a faint dose of licqourice. Higher end of medium bodied, moderate carbonation, a little alcohol and some mineral tones in the fnish. Very well balanced imperial stout which I really enjoyed, the alcohol was very well disguised.

Well, I’m a big fan of Buxton Brewery, and this certainly doesn’t disappoint. I’d been advised many times by colleagues to try this, and this is a good night to try it, as it’s damp, dark, cold and Autumn is well and truly knocking - if not - banging on the door. Pours a nice deep velvet black with a small dark tan/light brown head, which has really persistent retention. Aroma is distinctly US in character, with what could be Columbus or similar US hops. Nice aromas of tar, hazelnut, dark chocolate, strong Cuban roast coffee & earth, almost with the suggestion of vanilla. Flavour is nice and immediate with a combination of toasty roasted barley and hops up front, switched to a little liquorice, some resinous notes, 70% cocoa, Marmite, coffee and a long hoppy, earthy finish. Nice soft, velvety mouthfeel, good weight. Slight grainy feel after time, almost like soft tannins. Spot on all in all.