Great Lakes Blackout Stout

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

Serve in Snifter

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Pours a rich black with some brown around the edges and a nice tan head. Dry mildly roasted aroma with a touch of hops. Body starts semi-sweet and roasty with a stronger coffee-like presence coming on before a more bitter dry finish. Lingering chocolate malt helps to mask the alcohol. As it warms it seems to pick up more balance and complexity. A nice imperial stout. Thanks to BBB63 and TAR for bringing me bottles of this.

Then a beautiful black pour. A stout with great American hops and some malt taste. Delicious. Thanks Chuck’s Fine Wines in Cleveland for breaking up a six pack for me.

Deep brown, just above solid black. Big time roasted coffee aroma. Creamy. Medium bodied, not very bold. Kinda thin in the palate and one-dimensional. That 1-D bring roasted coffee, so it's still very good.

The Lure:
Dark chocolate meets soy sweetness for a rather intriguing perfume. Roasted malts bloom within the citrusy hoppiness.

The Festivities:
A luscious, cohesive body offers plenty of roastiness and hop bitterness. Molasses and bread crumbs proliferate the slick, ample nature of the mouthfeel, and prove balance is possible is those big boys of the dark beer world.

Transcendence:
A massive yet unpretentious statue in honor of the creation of imperial stouts.

A: The pour is a very dark brown color that can look black if in the right lighting. A small but sturdy tan head. S: Lots of nice roast and chocolate aromas right off the bat. As I smell this beer a few more times the intense coffee aroma really starts to make itself known. T: Quite a bit of coffee is present on the palate as well. Underneath, lots of roasted malts and semisweet chocolate which helps to balance out the intense roast of the coffee and malt components. M: The body is maybe a bit light for an imperial stout, but this beer is very smooth on the tongue so I can’t punish it too much. D: Really pleasant and easy to drink. I really liked this beer quite a lot and found the 9% ABV to be not be present at all.

Thanks to Ohio Dad for this one. The pour was obsidian, with 2-finger brown head. Aroma of huge dark roasty malt, chocoff, some brown sugar, and ints of maduro cigar tobacco. The flavor was roasty dark malty, with a rich chocolate syrup element coupled with espresso, molasses, and slight brown sugar. The mouth was rich, creamy, complex, and in my mind, not deductible. If you like big stouts, you’ll like this.

Bottle from Styles! Pour was a very deep mahogany with a nice cap of tan head on there... went most of the way down after a couple minutes. Whole helluva lot going on in the aroma... rich mocha, plums, figs, deep roasted chocolate, even a little bark. Oh yeah.. almost forgot the great citrusy Cascade presence! The most prominent flavors were espresso, sweet chocolate, and grapefruit. Dark fruits, molasses, caramel, and oak weren’t far behind, though. Quite bitter yet smooth from the first sip through the finish... which was long, roasty, and chocolatey... with a lemony twist. Very much enjoyed this one!

12 ounce bottle courtesy of ucusty. Thanks! Best by 8/17/08. Pours a dark chestnut brown, appearing black in the glass, with medium head. Decent retention and specks of tan lacing. Aroma of dark roasted malts with molasses, tobacco, dark fruits, coffee. Coffee is assertive in the taste with caramel, burnt sugar and coffee notes. Some very light hoppiness as well. Full bodied. A top-notch imperial stout.

Bottle. Black body with a big tan head. Big dry roast aroma. Moderate dark malt flavour, with notes of bitter hops, light boozey chocolate and a dry roast finish that lingers long into the aftertaste. Alcohol is barely noticable. Average to medium palate (3+). Pretty solid stout but still not something I could drink a lot of, the roast is just not a big turn on for me.

Sampled at GABF on Saturday October 13, second session
Clear dark brown to black color, brown head. Sweet, chocolate, hoppy scent. Sweet, licorice taste. Licorice aftertaste. Medium mouthfeel, medium high bitterness.