Harveys Imperial Stout

Brewed by Harveys
Style: Imperial Stout
Lewes, England

Tastes sherried and corked. Not overly pleasant. Would not drink it if I could choose my beers. After first taste though, it complexes like wine. It is a decent beer.

11.2 oz bottle via CSBOSOX(thanks!). 1999 bottle. Pours a midnight black with a a minute tiny head. Aroma is of fruity esters, chocolate malts, and alcohol. Taste is basically of some roasted chocolate and some licorice with some saltiness and a slight bit of wood. Bittersweet ’n sour roasted aftertaste lingers for a long long time....I will say that i hated this beer after one drink but now after half the bottle it is really coming alive in it’s complexity and is actually quite tastey. Definately unique and a MUST TRY!

1999. black syrupy pour. small orange, brown head. black color. vinous aroma with chocolate. very fruity, almost lambic scented. maybe some oak too. flavor is bitter coffee, maple syrup with lots of wood barrel flavor. strange green olive funk taste too. very complex and well made. i just don’t dont like the woody olive funk coming through. full bodied.

Super dark. Poured the thickest jet black ever. Had a tan head. Aroma was very sour and alcoholic. Flavor was very sour and and bitter, very strong.

2000 bottle. Dark and very murky brown/black with no head. Looks like crude oil. Aroma of dark dried fruit-prune, raisin- with roasted and charred chocolate and coffee malt, port wine and licorice. Didn’t like the flavor at all. Sludgey, muddy, sour, medicinal and overall not pleasant. I kept imagining being stuck in the jungle with malaria and drinking some fermented bark and toxic berry potion mixed up by a witch doctor. I guess if I was into fortified wines like port or sherry I might have a better appreciation for this one. However, this is not my personal idea of beer.

Thanks Doggythedog for sharing this with me.
Bottled(330ml). –Deep black coloured, almost no head maybe because of ages, cherry port nose. Strong roasted coffee and licorice aroma with notes of dark chocolate. Slight salty and smoked hints. Sharp sour finish. It’s pity that I haven’t tried this beer at least year or two earlier. 2001 vintage

11.2 fl oz bottle. 2001 vintage. Pitch black with a small brown head. Sourish brett aroma, a little roastedness. Nutty sourness. Rose petals. Drying spices. Laurels and timian. Very intense. Well-covered alcohol potency. Quite sharp spicy aroma and flavours. Dynamite flavour. Engine oil. Even more brettanomyces. It cannot get more pungent and intense than this. It’s definitely got an attitude. Sourish roasted flavours in the finish. Licorice and chocolate oilyness. This is a great complex beer. I can well understand why most people don’t like it. I love it.

Bottle (12/12) courtesy of Papsoe (thanks!), shared with ozujsko
Harvey’s Imperial Extra Double Stout 2001
I couldn’t wait to try this one... The cork came out without as much fuss as those "pressurized bottle" made us thought, and yes, it was flat, pitch black, with only tiny remnants of what would’ve been a brown head a few years ago. It smelled nice and interesting; port, dry figs, and primarily our Griotte candy (chocolate, filled with cherry brandy). I loved it, and went to drink it with great expectations. And then it hit me... it was so damn salty I made a face. Soy sauce, tobacco ash, coffee, some sourness, touch of cinnamon, plum brandy.... too damn salty. Like someone dissolved a teaspoon of salt in it. I love salty food, but... nah. If I had it in Split, not in Zagreb with ozujsko, I would’ve probably given most of it to my mother to use instead of tamari sauce... I’ll try a fresh(er) sample again... right now I feel as I’ve overrated it.