Cigar City Pilot Series Imperial Sweet Stout

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

Serve in Snifter

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Pours pitch black. Thick brown head with super tiny active bubbles. Nose is sweet licorice, black strap molasses, hints of smoke, heavy roast, sweet milk chocolate, candy. Flavor is much the same with earthy hop characters, toasty malts, warming booze, sweet candy. Damn fine beer.

Draft at CCB. Pours almost black with a medium brown head. Aroma is all sorts of sweet fruity, boozy, thick mess. Flavor is big. Brown sugar, candied apples, brandy, chocolate, caramel...everything but the kitchen sink...Its good...but on this day i wasnt feeling particularly well...and it was even a little sweet for my sweet tooth. Full body, nice heat, pretty sticky. Overall...it was really good...probably would have been better if i wasnt feeling under the weather.

Bottle shared by emacgee. Thanks Ethan. This one poured black with a beautiful tan head that creates some amazing lace like I’ve never seen. There was also a strange "loogie" type thing in my beer which I am guessing is some sort of yeast protein thing as I’ve seen something similar in brews before. This beer looked and smelled so fantastic I wasn’t going to pour it out. Nose of espresso, cocoa, light roast, cream. Extremely creamy and velvety mouthfeel with notes of chocolate, some dark fruit, espresso, light booze. Really nice flavor and one of the better imperial stouts I’ve had of recent. Pretty darn impressive and wish I had more.

Thanks Ben for the handbottle! Porus a gorgeous viscous inky black with one finger of a ruby chestnut brown head. Nose shows lots of sweet cocoa and fruit skins with notes of espresso. Lactose, and some ephemeral alcohol. Lovely. Flavor is rich and chocolaty with some coffee and burnt grain, lots of residual sweetness and some fruityness. Very full and viscous palate with a well balanced grain bitterness. Bossome. Thanks Ben.

Fliptop bottle from fishingnet. Ben, I’m really excited to try your beers.. and this is the first of many hopefully. Pours a pitchblack thicker opaque pour, dark and morose, a frothy darker brown head grows slowly, collects to a moderate size, dies to a frothy film eventually but laces well. Aromas are a blend of roasted malts, caramel, toffee, some sweeter cocoa, coffee and cream, a touch of molasses, creaminess, and more cocoa and biscuits. Sweeter toasted oats. Initial is full bodied, moving from roasted and toasted malts into toffee, decadent fudge, caramel, and biscuits, toast, coffee grounds, a touch more earthiness with sweet oats, chocolate, and caramel coming in to swarm. As it warms a bit, the roast really starts to assert, some stronger coffee grounds, bitter and a bit ashy really start to permeate past the sweetness. It grows, the sweetness and chocolate nature seem to temper it a bit in balance, touches of molasses, but not enough to become a main factor, but the roast seems a bit stronger. I think Iike that. The flavors, appearance, and more gentle sweet aroma draws you in like a siren, but the beer itself is fairly fierce, fudgey and roasty, coffee and caramel, some earthiness.. the fudge and roast compete. The finish is lingering sweetness, roast a bit stronger. A very nice beer that has a good body but hides the ABV a bit. Nice work, Ben!

impenetrable black hue. moderately thick, slick, soft carb, milky texture. some molasses and dark fruit. the high abv was masked nicely. sweetness was just right. enjoyed.

Draft @ CCB. First brew of CCB’s very exciting Pilot Series. Poured black with a dense, creamy, dark mocha head. Intensely roasted nose with big notes of chocolate, booze, and molasses and a lighter anise note. Full body, with a creamy, chewy mouth feel. The flavor is mostly sweet and fairly boozy, big notes of rich milk chocolate and hard roasted malt with a light note of vanilla. Finishes sweet and roasted. Very rich and decadent, great beer. Great job Ben, can’t wait to drink more of your beers.

A very unique imperial stout on draft at the Cigar City tasting room. A thick and sweet stout with a molasses look and hints of dark cherry and other sweet pitted fruit.

UPDATED: MAR 25, 2011 Pours a dark black with a tan milky head. Aroma is sweet earthy malts. Coffee and cocoa. Taste is sweet caramel. Toasted malts and chocolate. Palate is awesome. Thick body and excellent warming ability. Overall a excellent brew