Cigar City Final Push Imperial Stout

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

Serve in Snifter

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300th rating! This one had a thick black body and the head was pretty dark as well. Aromas were strong and almost spicy of rich coffee and hops with notes of dark chocolate. Tasted fantastic, loads of smooth chocolate and strong coffee battle the taste buds as you get an almost smoky lingering aftertaste. The mouth feel was incredible, creamy and a little bubbly - reminded me of coffee ice cream. Finished smooth and mellow, leaving you with a mouthful of roasted malts and dry hops. VERY complex, just not quite what I expected though with all the hype :-P.

Handbottled from tap. Pitch black coloured with a small beige head. Roasted aroma of dark chocolate and cocoa powder with notes of cheese. Roasted flavour of coffee, cocoa powder, dark chocolate and berries with notes of liquorice. Dry roasted finish.

Sampled side by side with the Penultimate. Pretty much the same beer, but I thought it was too mellow. I didn’t realize that the coffee was super high end. I didn’t get a whole lot of coffee in this one, unfortunately. Rich chocolate and roasted malts. A nice beer that I’d love to try again. Thanks Kan!

In short: A big fat viscous chocolaty stout with an almost espresso-like coffee character. Excellent (even if a bit overrated).
How: Fresh growler. Sent to me by GodOfThunder, consumed within days of receiving it. Thanks a lot Jay
The look: Pitch black body topped by a small brown head
In long: Nose is showing a roasted coffee beans over a chocolate cake. Given the hype of the beer I expected a more explosive aroma. Body is thick and viscous as hell. Somehow, the body felt more viscous than the base Marshall Zhukov, which is strange because usually I find that the coffee version of a big stout (example: Meph Addict vs Mephistopheles) makes for a dryer more roasted sensation. Taste is pretty straightforward, a big fattening rich chocolate cake with fresh coffee beans. I’m sure not familiar with the flavor of the much talked about Kopi Lowak coffee variety but to me the Final Push coffee character was a bit more espresso than with other well known high-quality coffee stouts (Speedway, Peche Mortel, etc.). Of all the quality coffee stouts I’ve had I’d say that Final Push was the most chocolaty I’ve had. Actually I don’t think the coffee outshines the chocolate or vice-versa. Alcohol is a bit apparent but it is fitting for this dessert beer. Also some green herbal notes. Carbonation was relatively smooth, I would have preferred a more active carbonation to increase drinkability but maybe it is because it was a growler consumed a week after it was filled. So despite my long rambling, all I can really say about this beer is that it is a rich chocolate cake and coffee with some alcohol warmth and light green herbal notes. Even after drinking a full growler I really cannot add anything. It is a straightforward but highly enjoyable sipper. In a blind tasting I don’t think it would score higher than the less hyped widely available quality coffee stouts out there (Speedway, Peche Mortel, etc.) but it remains an excellent example of the style. And in case you drank the beer but don’t know why the beer is named “Final Push”… well, you don’t want to know, just like you don’t want to know if your mother ever kissed your goodnight after giving your father a blowjob.

RBWG@RLRL-on nitro-pours a long retaining, milkshake thick light brown head and black color. Aroma is coffee-sark malt, hint of earthy hops. Taste is coffee-dark malt, some earthy hops bite. Creamy, thick, full body. Not my taste but nice and tasty.

Handbottled, courtesy of cgarvieuk. Pours pitch black with no head. Roasted dark malty, herbal coffee and dark malty. Rich chocolate and coffee flavoured. Dark malty, breadish and roasted. Herbal coffee and lingering dark malty into a smooth rich malty finish. Light bitterness coming through.

Botella. Pitch black colour, nice but though small light brown head. Pleasant aroma of coffee and roasted malt with chocolate and some smoke. Good filling mouthfeel indeed. Very pleasant flavour of coffe and roasted malt indeed with chocolate and liqourice along with a great pleasant roasty bitter malty chocolate coffe finish. Yum indeeeed!

Finally! The beer of the night. This one put me to bed with a smile. A bold black pour with an earthy / coffee aroma. A nice moleasses taste with , coffee, smoke and roast. A perfect bitter / dry finish. Yeah boy!

Sampled @ GABF!!! Practically ran to the booth to try this one...first stop!!! Liquid midnight pour produced a creamy latte head that left clumps of lacing inside the glass. Nose screamed weasel with abundant roasted coffee bean filling the nostrils. Extremely aggressive, almost overpowering other more subtle aromas. Flavor was fairly two dimensional with dark roasted coffee and dark Godiva chocolate. Unfortunately, there was a lot of bitter without anything to tame it. Velvety mouthfeel. Really good but think I actually liked regular Zhukov better.

This is why I’ll never leave SD. I’m hangin’ at the pub and placed on the table before me is a capped bottle, hand-written, of Final Push. It comes with a hint of an apology that it’s a small pour, at more than 2 oz. Oats and coffee on the nose. Dry cocoa. Not a sweet one by any measure. No head. Black with thick viscosity. Taste is pungent. Rich sweet funkiness to cocoa dry and crisp. Great IRS.