Carlyle Imperial Stout

Brewed by Carlyle Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Rockford, Illinois USA

Serve in Snifter

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On tap.
This year’s batch turns in at 9.2%. Pours dark, dark menacing dark brown – not even any lightening of the color around the edges. Tightly backed khaki head sits on top and gradually dissipates to a wispy layer on top and a ring around the edge. Not much aroma -- for some reason this is a common occurrence with Carlyle beers, even the big ones -- but what is there is vanilla, toffee, and roasted grain. Flavor is big burst of bitter roast grain, some coffee notes, lovely vanilla, quite a bit of sugary malt, but not much fruit as one would is led to believe by the commercial description. Big, bold, intense. Bitter-sweet finish, creamy but slightly flat palate. At $5 for a 10oz goblet, this could be the best brewpub bargain around.

7.6% alcohol. Arrives with a very dense, thick brown head, dark black. Beer is served a bit warmer, the way it supposed to be. Aroma is heavily roasted, slight alcohol presence, chocolate and a light roasted coffee bitterness. Flavor is very smooth chocolate (lots of it), light bitter roasted malt, light earthy bitterness at the end. The palate for this beer is very creamy and the carbonation is low and perfect for this style. I honestly believe this is one of the best Imps I have ever had the pleasure to try out. Note: I do not recall seeing anything about being aged in a bourbon barrel on the menu and I think this is a different offering, tastes are describe very differently when looking at the other Imp listing.