Harveys Imperial Stout

Brewed by Harveys
Style: Imperial Stout
Lewes, England

Vintage 2001- probably sat too long with a bad cork. Poured with zero head.. oily and completely flat. I couldnt even finish it.

Bottle. Impeccable presentation with unique corked 11.2 oz bottle. Shiny black licorice pour. Limited crystal bubbles of carbonation rin the suface. Grapes, sweet barleywine-like scent. Similar taste with grassy, farmhouse finish. Antithesis of what I expected. I’m sure someone is a huge fan but not this guy.

330 mL bottle. 2001 vintage. pours black with no head. Aroma of soy sauce. Taste of soy sauce and salt. I think I’m going to go scrub my tongue now. In a word, blucky!

2003 bottle. Buyer beware. Dry cork crumbled into beer. Completely flat. Like motor oil. Might have been decent had it not suffered from aging, poor packaging, and handling.

330. Thanks, Maria! Ay chihuahua...is this really an 01? Certainly seems to have some years on it. You know you’re on your way to geekdom when you, like me, totally get off on the hassle of having to uncork an 11.2 ounce bottle after unfoiling it. Love that long thin neck, especially on the pour: dook dook dook dook dook. Pours oily still black with a few alomst imaginary bubbles hanging around. Nose is overwhelmingly soy sauce. I don’t use the word "overwhelmingly" to describe aromas very often, but this qualifies; you can feel your back straighten when you smell this stuff. It’s almost a fight or flight response. And the attack, wow--watery, and flat, but, jesus, talk about salty. It’s almost all soy sauce and seaweed; sourly salty, in fact. I wish I could find something nicer to say about it, but I’m afraid this one has gone over. You’re too kind to me, Maria...I wish I could have tasted deeper into this one.

Bottle picked this up from Beers of Europe late April. Mmmhh maybe I shoulda’ had this for the 1000th, what an incredible beer. This beer poured like a slightly watered down treacle with only a small tan head, the aroma was quite strange that I can only describe as being a bit fishlike. As a child I always loved the smell of creosote and always wondered what it would be ike to lick it off the fence, how strange then at 38 I finally get to try a beer that on first taste made me think I was sucking a creosoted fence panel, guess what? It tasted great, the neighbours better watch out for a strange man with splinters in on black tongue, creeping around their fencing panels. The second taste released bitter chocolate that morphed into a creamy chocolate finish, such an intense and complicated flavour the roof of my mouth now feeling that it was coated with a layer of pitch. Another sip revealed a sour tang with chocolate and roasted flavours. I took 45mins to an hour to drink this it just demanded to be savoured, such an amazing beer that shouldn’t really work and yet it does, it’s fantastic, great accompnement to Craig Charles funk and soul show on Radio 6 on a Saturday night.

2000 vintage. Pours like thin weight motor oil, opaque black. No head at all. Sweet molasas/wine/soy sauce aroma. Medium heavy mouth feel with a syrupy sweet molasas flavor, no bitterness what so ever. Poorly balanced and very 1 dimensional, no roast flavor at all, more of a barley wine than a stout but no matter what you call it, it’s not good.

Bottle from State Line, Thanks Dennis Bell. A cork what the in the hell was a cork doing in there? Real black pour wich was alot like syrup with thin quickly dissapating head. Odd aroma, it smelled a little like wine and roasted malt. Alcohol taste with roast and a olive\vinegar taste. This was just ok for me.