3.9 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 16/20
Fully opaque black body and ruddy-brown head with fair lacing. Milk chocolate nose. Coffee and chocolate flavor. Nice bitter coffee finish. Body feels a bit light for an imperial stout. Still damn good though.
3.6 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 14/20
Whaleman 2004: Poured pitch black with a brown head. Aroma of hops and coffee. Dry with a slight sour milk bite. Finishes sour with bitter hops. Good but not great. Sorry Eric!
4.3 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 18/20
UPDATED: AUG 29, 2004 22oz Bottle no Date. Thanks to Raindog for the Bonus Brew! This bad boy poured black and as opaque as could be. Leaves a huge dark bown head that lingers for a long while. An impressive looking stout for sure. The aroma is quite hoppy for the style and blends well with its notes of sweet roasty chocolatey decadence. Some licorice is also present yet faint. The body is full and smooth and everything you expect in this style. Very creamy with just enough carbonation to keep it in check. The flavor is a chocolatey espresso treat. The licorice detected in the aroma is even more subtle in the flavor. This all adds up to a winner in my opinion. Overall an excellent Imperial and probably equal to or possibly better than my other favorite from Left Hand, another Colorado gem.
3.8 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 15/20
2003 vintage. Pours black with a brown head. Nose is roasted malt and coffee. Perhaps dark chocolate or cocoa as well. Taste has more of the same with licorice added to it. Some definite coffee notes in the taste along with licorice and alcohol. Some bitterness during the mouthfeel and finish but, man, this is good. Very good Imperial Stout!
4.5 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 18/20
Uh, wooooo. Deep viscous black with a beautiful blood red head. Rich nose, chocolate and loads of malts, lots of molasses and plums. Very good flavor, strong and very vinous. Huge roasted malts, lots of chocolate, a pleasing hint of bitterness at the end. Full and creamy, yet very quaffable. Quite spectacular.
4.2 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
(2003 Bomber) Small dark brown head atop a motor oil body. Aroma is sweet, big malty, coffee, citrus hops, some vinous, some alcohol. Taste is medium sweet, coffee, grapefruit, some vinous. Finishes with a medium alcohol warming/burn. Big body. No question they put shitloads of malt and hops in this one -- beautiful beer.
3.2 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
This came in a 22oz bomber and was the 2003 version. Pours a very dark color with a nice full head and leaves a huge amount of lacing on the glass. The aroma was mostly comprised of a coffee smell with some notes of rum(?) and possibly a little chocolate. The flavor is much the same as the aroma. Coffee feel with some chocolate and very thick. Not a bad Imperial Stout at all.
4.3 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20
Quite simply one of the darkest, oiliest pours I have ever seen. Thick viscous 10,000 mile used motor oil body topped by a gorgeous medium sized, rocky, dark tan head. The aroma is roasted bitter malt, citrus hops, and choco-coffee. The flavor is big burnt malt, with some sweet molasses and loads of citrus hops. The usual assortment of chocolate and coffee are also in there, but the bitterness of the hops and roasted malts are quite strong. The body is huge and creamy. The aftertaste lingers and is almost like a good espresso. Yum-yum. This is an excellent Imperial Stout.
3.8 AROMA 7/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Ahh ... lost notes, but the memory lingers .. deep, rich and satisfying. One of those sweetNbitter combos that I go for in a big way. Now I need to dig in that closet I call a cellar and see if I have another ...
3.5 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 6/10 PALATE 3/5 OVERALL 13/20
2003 Bottle: This Imperial pours a thick syrupy black with a dark brown head. Nice lacing throughout the glass. The aroma consists of coffee, caramel and hops. Rich bodied and overly bitter for my tastes. The label boasts of the hoppiness of this beer at 75 IBUs, and it threw off the balance of it in my estimation. I learned that while I like hoppy beers I do not like hoppy Imperial Stouts. The bitterness overpowers the malt, roasted coffee and chocolate flavors that would otherwise make this more enjoyable. The finish remains bitter with hops and coffee. Overall this beer would be much better if the the scales were not tipped so far on the bitter side. The one saving grace is that by the time it really, really warmed the balance was noticeably better.
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