Fish Tale Poseidons Imperial Stout (Batch 5 +)

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Imperial Stout
Olympia, Washington USA

Serve in Snifter

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Batch #5, 11/2004. Sampled in a Pizza Port Real Ale Fest pint glass. Opaque black brown with not much fizzy light brown head. Filmy oily granular-looking bubbles stick to the side and slink down the side unappetizingly; I wouldn’t call it lace because it aint pretty. Racing has the same granular quality but is much more appealing, striking deep and gracefully rising to the top. The bubbles do interesting things on the top of the beer, emerging and dissipating with motion, almost as if they were a property of the surface rather than a layer riding on top of it (I don’t know if that makes sense to anybody else). Smell is very nice and potent: sweet dark chocolate, caramelly malt, and deep almost too-ripe plums, maybe even a little black cherry; overall, a very natural impression of sweetness. Intense flavor up front is awesome; a roasty bitter that’s acrid yet rich at the same time, riding the firm thickness of the mouthfeel. The initial rich intensity blends into subdued malt sweetness and eventually into an intensely bitter hoppy and roasty finish that is also quite salty and displays a bit of alcohol pungency. The salt and bitter belie a certain amount of dryness, but I wouldn’t say the finish is classically dry. The intensity of the finish flavors is amazing; it has amazing retention. Roasty all the way through, this is maybe the most bitter imperial stout I’ve ever experienced. While impressive and worthy of respect, my own inclination is toward something a bit more balanced.

Bottle from Beverages 4 Less. Pours dark brown with a modest tan head and a chocolate and treacle aroma. There is a chocolate and dark molasses flavor with a dry slightly sour finish.

12oz bottle from Wade’s Wines. This might have some age on it but its still tasty. The hops have mostly faded but left sweet coffe to dominate the flavor. No hint of the alcohol too. Nice.

3rd July 2009
Opaque black stout. Smooth semi dry palate. Rich dark malt. Traces of smoke and cherry. Has a bitterish finish which jars a bit with the smoothness of the start.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown and black color with a dark tan mocha head. Dark fruit, molasses, chocolate, and roast. Medium/heavy mouthfeel. Roasty and sweet with a molasses backing. Not overly roasty. Nice sweet dark chocolate. Lingering roasted flavors. Decent.

Thanks to Alex for bringing this bottle out to try along with the barrel-aged version. Served in my Cantillon tulip. Pours a really dark brown with a single-finger tan head. Fades into a light cap. The nose brings forward a bit of roasted malt and some chocolate. Not terribly complex--especially compared with the BA version--but nothing off about it. The taste is along the same lines. It’s fairly decent but not good enough to warrant a four. Some roast plus a bit of chocolate. Slightly dry with the roast. Medium body. Decent enough in the end, but nothing remarkable. Serving type: bottle Reviewed on: 01-05-2011

12oz bottle provided by Alex to compare with the ba version. This one was greatly outclassed, and that little bottle barely got touched...Dark brown pour, with a small white head, not much to look at...The aroma is so-so with burnt malt, caramel and chocolate...The taste is more burnt notes, just not very good. Coffee, grains, and alcohol. One of the worst stouts of the night we had, I wouldn’t go out of the way for it.

12 ounce. Thanks to BMan1113VR for the bonus. Big creamy head and dark body. Strong stout aroma. Lots of coffee in the taste. Very strong chocolate and then some bitterness. Very tasty.

Bottle. Pours an oily black body with a tan head and light head retention. Malty with chocolate and caramel malt tones. Roasted with coffee tones, light oxidation soy moth, a bit vinous like. Velvet texture with very little warming. Nice offering.

Old rate. Batch 5 bottled November 2004. Promising aroma contains vinous hints with a primary scent of chocolate dipped cherries. Poured dark black with a thin head and the consistency of oil. Unfortunately when I got the flavour, things fell apart. There were roasted coffee beans, chocolate and a subtle hint of sour cherries. After that, it quickly fades with nothing left behind. Because of this, a promising stout quickly falls to the middle of the pack. Try it once for the experience but it doesn’t have enough presence to make me want to buy more.

By all accounts a great tasting stout, strong with taste of coffee, vanilla. I would like to have this again