Great Lakes Blackout Stout

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Cleveland, Ohio USA

Bottle. Pours black with a red/brown head. Aroma is roasted malt, fresh brewed coffee, and caramel. Smooth, medium body. Flavor is roasted malt and roasted chestnut and also a note of coffee. Good amount of bitterness. Nice, but not quite great.

12oz bottle. Aroma has notes of alcohol, molasses, coffee, chocolate and dark fruit. Very dark mahogony hue with a light tan head that mostly diminished and left little lace. Flavor is sherry, molasses, alcohol, vanilla with a little hop bitterness on the finish. Palate is full bodied and oily soft. This may have been served too warm. Alcohol was all over the place here; on the nose, palate, and flavor. Way to upfront for a 9% brew. Good flavor and aroma though. Should taste best when a little chilly.

12 oz bottle from fiver29! Thanks this is one I really wanted to try! Nose of chocolate, vanilla, light amounts of coffee, and some pruny molasses notes; black with a medium cinnamon head; flavor has chocolate, light hop bitterness, vanilla and coffee noteswith a very chocolatey, but lightly bitter finish. Pretty darn good stout!

A deep, dark, nearly pitch block body sits beneath a creamy thin beige head. The smell is very complex, with espresso, chocolate, cake batter, dark fruits, rum, and molasses. The flavor is brutally potent. The alcohol is very prominent at first, but melds into a straight grainy ass espresso shot. Hints of cocoa, bittersweet chocolate, prunes, dates, and sweet oranges. I like this stout, but I think it’s a bit young for my tastes. Just needs some time to mellow out..

12oz bottle dated 08/02/07. Served in a shaker glass @ 57°. Aroma is cocoa & lactose (milk chocolate combo), light roast, floral hops. Color is pure black with a small khaki head. Big bodied. Initial taste is sweet lightly roasted malt, more of the chocolate, and fruitiness followed by some drying roastiness and hops bitterness. Finish seems nicely balanced for a big Imperial Stout, making it as easy to drink as a 6% regular stout. Tasting this beer, I wonder how it would stand up to barrel aging? Sounds like a potential mess since this beer has nothing to offset the tannins or booze...

I have been enjoying this hoppy imperial stout.. I look forward to cracking one open after a long night of work, put my feet up, and watch the late night shows.. a bit high in ABV with 9% but still enjoy to the last drop

Bottle courtesy of gunhaver. Pitch black with a one-finger brown head. Some lacing and average retention. Aroma is of molasses and boozy chocolate. Flavor is surprisingly non-robust. Tends toward the sweet side with the chocolatiness, with a modest effort from coffee to balance. Zero alcohol to be tasted here. Mouthfeel lacks some of the heftiness in body that I expect from a top-notch imperial stout. Carbonation is a little low. This hurts the mouthfeel but boosts the drinkability.

12oz bottle. Pours black with tan head. Aroma is burnt malt, hops, coffee and alcohol. Flavor is large amounts of hops and burnt malt with chocolate and coffee. Big alcohol burn with bitter finish. Could you some cellar time to balance it out.