3.7 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 14/20
Bottle of the re-named Temptation. Pitch, opaque with caramel colored head. Aroma is mild for the style and less roasty. Fruity dominates as it does for the flavor. Roasted, woody, plum, port-like. The palate fades a bit; smooth, slightly frothy. Some alcohol comes out later.
3 AROMA 5/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
Bottle Conditioned, with Duff & Nuffield. Originally called Imperial Russian Stout, this is now called Temptation. Sweet aroma. Sweet taste. Sweet stout. Like a high alcohol Mackeson (Milk) Stout. Pleasant, but lacks any interesting balancing acidity or sourness. No deep dark chocolate notes. One dimensional. I knocked off one point for the arrogance of producing a 10% beer so my consumption of other beers is limited for the evening!
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Dark; brown generous head. Light coffee, roasted malt, cardboard, chocolate; very light vanilla. The body gets a far better structure while warming a little… then the malt gives some good sensation, corrected by good roasted malt notes; unfortunately the alcohol is a bit too evident.
3.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 3/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Fairly standard stout appearance, with a fairly alcoholic coffee aroma. The flavour is strongly coffee mixed with touches of sherry. Overall a bit of a disappointing imperial stout, as it is too much like a fortified wine.
4.2 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Nice to have an Imperial Stout. They are something of a rarity nowdays. Durham has licourice aromas with a fair degree of alcohol vapour to get you tipsy before you drink. This has coffee and liquourice flavours, followed by plain chocolate and its bitterness. This is thankfully not overly sweet. This is as dark and dangerous as an Imperial stout should be. Excellent.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Dark brown colour, good creamy head that lasts for a long time. Aroma of coffee and chocolate. The flavour is not so complex as I expected with some good sweet notes (chocolate, liquorice, plums) balanced by a coffee bitterness. The finish is a bit too much alcoholic, not really persistent. Really good, anyway.
3.7 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 2/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Bottle conditioned. Jet black but very short lived head and low condition let it down a little. Big aromas of licorice, chocolate coffee and dandelion & burdock (must find out what that smell really is). Lots more licorice and roast coffee in the mouth with a slight syrupyness and a deceptive, well hidden alcohol note. Dry and slightly tart in the finish. Its good that a small brewer is brave enough to try such a strong beer in the UK. Probablly will benefit from cellaring for a few years.
|
