porter4porter (32), Florida, USA Sep 24, 2008 Pours a frothy thick head, aroma was nice but not too strong, chocolaty and oak flavors with a mild finish, would have liked a little more on the finish but overall excellent beer that lives up to its reputation M0RHI (1067), Luxembourg, Luxembourg Sep 22, 2008 Bottle, EBF 08, Copenhagen. Black. Oaky nose, slightly sweet with some hints of basement. Mouth is oaky, brackish, chocolatey and bitter. Quite bitter all the way through, sweet end. Excellent. danielcurtis81 (879), San Diego, California, USA Sep 19, 2008 Bottle. Oaky chocolate noses. Oak and roast flavors build on the tough. Not overly heavy on the the finish. A fine drink! mikalooch (158), , New Jersey, USA Sep 18, 2008 Pours out black with a frothy medium brown head about a finger thick, thin head remained the entire time the beer lasted. Scent of coffee shop mocha and smoke, almost like a campfire. Creamy espresso with spice and dark chocolate to start, finishes with anise, medium carbonation. Aftertaste has a bit of sweetness to it, not too much. Alcohol is barely noticed in the taste. Very nice and drinkable, one of the smoothest I’ve had. Top notch. AskForJenny (626), Ontario, New York, USA Sep 18, 2008 0.65l - Tobbacco, spice, smells of autumn on the nose. Impentetrably black on the pour, yielding a small and fleeting dark tan head. Moves slower in the glass, almost like it had weight. Espresso giving way to hops and astringency. A nice ride. Heathen (723), Riverside, New Jersey, USA Sep 17, 2008 THOUGHTS: Hid alcohol well. A little more hops than I prefer in an Impy, but it was well balanced. I wasn’t really getting much of the oak aging, but I think it really just tamed the original by balancing the hops better with the malt.
TECHNICAL: Bottle. Poured a very dark, opaque brown that was black in the glass with an average, light brown head that mostly diminished, but kept a thin sheet and left excellent lacing. The aroma was light to moderate dark chocolate and coffee malts, moderate pine and resin hops; a little spice, slight alcohol and sorta bourbon. The initial flavor was moderately sweet, lightly bitter and slightly sour; while the finish was moderately sweet and moderately to heavily bitter with a long duration. There was chocolate syrupy, pine and resin hops, coffee and slight whiskey. The full body was a little syrupy and creamy and somehow also oily with tingly carbonation and a slight metallic, very light alcoholic finish. probstk (1005), Nepean, Ontario, Canada Sep 17, 2008 <i>Bomber from BOTW (Rochester), bought well over a year ago, served at cellar temperature in a tulip glass.</i>
<b>App.</b>: Very very deep brown-black with wee hints of ruby and a good mocha foam.
<b>Aroma</b>: Huge amounts of slightly minty molasses, some licorice, dark dried fruits, chocolate, cacao, vanilla, green pine hops, a bit of soy sauce-like savouriness, a bit of slightly non-dried fruitiness.
<b>Palate</b>: Medium-ful body, sparse carbonation, fairly smooth and a little syrupy.
<b>Flav.</b>: All sorts of black chocolate, molasses, licorice, fruitiness, some green herbaceous hops, a bit of the oak, mainly as vanilla; definitely some warming alcohol, fairly bitter but also somewhat sweet, burns a little, leaves the mouth feeling very coated and like dark chocolate with the bitterness, deep roasted notes and a slight tartness.
Hard to compare to the original, as I had it long ago. Certainly enjoyed this variation a lot and was glad the strange cat-food thing wasn’t going on. awiseman01 (318), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Sep 15, 2008 Updated: Apr 14, 2009Bottle, shared w/ danielcurtis81. Lots of roasted malt, and chocolate. Some vanilla and caramel in the black body that goes down very smooth. Nice oak flavor. Very enjoyable.
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