Cigar City Humidor Series Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Stout

Brewed by Cigar City Brewing
Style: Imperial Stout
Tampa, Florida USA

Serve in Snifter

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UPDATED: DEC 8, 2009 Re-rate... Bottle... This beer rocks!... Pitch black with a small, creamy, well-tanned head. Decent retention. The aroma is a strange and wonderful blend of blackstrap molasses, black and white pepper, brick tobacco, dark chocolate and a whisper of espresso. The flavor is well-balanced and woody/peppery, in addition to most of the same essences the nose provided. I love American white oak, French oak and just about every other type of wood aging, but humidor cedar is really doing it for me more right now than just about anything else. To me, it doesn’t add any acidity, acedity or unnescessary bugs. Just a wholesome, earthy, peppery aroma and flavor. I have the incredible urge to pop open the humidor and pull out a Hoyo De Tradicion corona at 11:31 PM at night in December. Gotta go outside to smoke it in mid December though. Oh, wait, I live in south Florida. No problemo. ***** Original Rating was 4.2*****Bottle… RBSG 08… This beer rocks!… Pours pitch black with little to no head. The aroma offers rich caramel, dark chocolate and tobacco with suggestions of butterscotch and praline. Full-bodied with a velvety mouthfeel and laid-back carbonation. Woodsy, well-balanced flavor. Heavy sweetness is countered by burnt, black malts, espresso notes and acrid hop bitterness. Alcohol is not obvious. Lengthy, charred, chocolaty finish. Another world class effort by Cigar City.

Pours thick and almost black with a small brown head, found this to be better than Zhukov in every sense, and Zhukov was great. A roma is bitter cocoa and espresso, the cedar seemed to mellow the ashy burnt nose quite a bit, flavor is just the same, bitter chocolate, dark fruit, and a healthy dose of cedar. What a difference the Cedar makes. Not quite as noticeable in the IPA. It actually stained the glass as I sipped. Thick full body, Just delicious.

Bottle. Prune and chocolate malt aroma. Oil black color with tan head. Lightly sweet prune, chocolate, coffee malt, and black pepper. Masterfully blended. Unique - very nice.

Bottle shared in line at DLD. Sweet chocolate, black pepper, wood, dark fruit, and molasses aroma. Oily black with a brown head and nice lacing. Smoky, black papper, wood, prune, and coffee flavor. Full body, thick smooth mouthfeel. Excellent.

Bottle from Mane Liquor. Mighty fine pour. Pitch black with a small dark cocoa coloured head which clings to the sides of the glass. Nose is subtle and complex. Milk chocolate, espresso and smoke are all in check with each other on the nose. Very cigar box like aroma. Taste showcases the cedar perfectly. The prefect balance of rich, heavy, dark chocolate and coffee enveloped in the spices and ash/smokey notes of cedar. Great balance and length. Pretty fantastic beer

750ml Bottle: Got in trade from biggsbowler; THANKS Randall. Huge cedar aroma along with scents of malt, chocolate, wood, black pepper, and cigar box. Poured pitch black in color with a large, creamy, dense, rocky, dark brown head that diminished but lasted throughout. Opaque. Sparkling. Excellent lacing. Flavor is lightly sweet and lightly bitter. Tastes of cedar, chocolate, malt, roasting, spicy wood, wood, and pepper. Full body. Slick, creamy, then slightly dry texture. Soft to average carbonation. Cedar, wood, chocolate, malt, roast, cedar finish is slightly dry and slightly chalky. 11%ABV is completely hidden throughout. I love cedar beers!

Bottle poured a black color with a thick one finger dark brown head that retained well and had a great look. Aroma has big cedar, pepper, hefty malts, some sweetness, and a smack of heat. mouth feel is thick and oily and it has nice carbonation for such a beast. Flavor has rich malt, plenty of cedar, light roast, and bitterness. There is spiciness from hops and the cedar that gives a peppery twang to cut into the thick chewy core. A big chewy beer with an interesting twist.

750ml bottle at a tasting.

Appearance : Pitch black with small dark brown head.
Aroma : Viscous and oily, woody cedar, very rich and ashy.
Taste : Big rich overly sweet roasted malt. Big roasty notes, some cedar. Nice dark chocolate notes. Ashy on the finish.
Palate : Viscous and thick.
Overall : Ouch, what a challenging beer. Very thick and sweet... like drinking maple syrup (which I deeply enjoy but...). No balance at all, just felt like a big underatenuated stout... Still some interesting malt notes and interesting wood notes. Would have been way better if it were done properly.

750ml bottle pours a dark, viscous black with some thin, brick red head. Nose is very woody, smokey, cedar, wood chips, chocolate, rubber, coffee grounds. Flavor is sweet, dark chocolate, coffee, toasted bread, woody, a little soy. Full bodied, dry, roasty finish.

Pours dark unclear black oil in color with a beautiful cinnamon caramel bright head and some good retention. Aroma bring roasted malts, light cedar, and caramel notes. The flavor brings sweet roasted malts, some light cooling cedar in the middle of the palate, and some light tingling booze notes that settle subtly and nicely on the palate.

From notes. Poured a deep black with a one finger brown bubbly head that only lasted around 30 seconds. Nice roasty/chocolate nose with hints of woodyness, defiantly some dark fruit. Lots of cedar in the taste. These humidor beers really display more wood than most wood aged beers I’ve had, and the cedar is super interesting to boot. This one is pretty roasty with a bit of sweetness. Mouthfeel is very smooth, sticky, slickly. Big body medium carbonation. Overall a really nice stout the cedar may have been a tiny bit over powering but as a featured part of the brew it was presented nicely.