Harveys Imperial Stout

I bought this beer since it boasted "Imperial Double Extra Stout". Wow, and year 2000 in fact. The pour was thin and very dark with a non-existant head. Aroma was sweet, I was surprised at no coffee or roastiness whatsoever. Taste was, as it claims "sweet and sour". This was a unique beer but had very few qualities of my favorite imperial stouts.

le Coq. Bottle says 2001. Pours deep mahogany into a snifter. Alchohol and red wine aromas. Mocha head hugs rim in medium bubbles. Sour and thin with extreme alcohol and fig notes.

The Ratebeer FAQ says: “when you rate put style aside and tell us how GOOD the beer is”. This is what I did and unfortunately this beer does not meet my criteria of an enjoyable beer. And the price ($6.99 for a 12 ounces) is quite stiff.

(Bottled, 2001 vintage) Pitch black with no head. Very malty soy sauce aroma - like Sam Adams triple bock diluted. A very malty, very salty soy-sauce flavor with moderate roastiness and quite a bit of licorice. Extremely full-bodied, flat-carbonated palate. Alcohol is pretty well hidden behind the huge apparent gravity. A quite controversial brew - either it’s soy sauce gone bad, or a delicious Imperial Stout. Hmm... I’ll say more of the former.

Bottle, 2001. Purchased at The Holiday Wine Cellar in Escondido, CA. Pours a deep black with a think layer of what could almost be called head. Cork came out clean and dry. The aroma is sweet and malty and quite noticable. The taste is extremely sweet and not very full bodied. The taste feels more like candy then anything resembling a stout. Overall this brew is very disappointing and I won’t be having one again any time soon.

Bottle, 2001 on the label,but obviously younger.Almost black and almost no head at all. Very promising on the nose, boasting intense dark fruitiness. Flavours are filled with bitter chocolate, plum and rum. Bitter, dry and vinous. Oaky finish. Soft and full-bodied. A world-class beer, that just needs a little softening (age?) to compete with the no 1.

Rather confused by a bottle that is corked at 330 cL. Cork was so dry that it literally fell apart as it came out, the bottom of the cork wasn’t even moist. Poured a thick black like used motor oil with absolutely no head.... the only thing on top are a few bits of the crumbling, dry cork that I just pulled out. Very confused at this point... where’s the head, is it carbonated? And that smell is so intense that I might be drinking a mix of wine and ink. Aroma is filled with alcohol, dark fruits, red-wine, and rum. Taste isn’t quite as powerful as the aroma leads you to think. Not carbonated.... is this a fluke or is this beer as unusual as it is described above? Highly complex, it’s an all-out attack on your taste buds from all different angles. Very intense..... not roasty, not really chocolatey, not carbonated, and as far as I’m concerned, not a stout. This is much closer to wine than beer and it’s certainly not a very good example of either if you ask me.

11.2oz bottle, 2001. Pours black with a couple bubbles of head--kinda like Sam Adams triple bock--smells better though. Aroma of alcohol, soy, charred wood, and though I haven’t ever had any, what I would imagine port wine to smell like. Taste isn’t quite as big as the aroma lets on. There is some dark chocolate and tang along some wine-like qualities. There is also some earthiness. Has a soy and chalky finish. Alcohol is apparent. Full bodied, practically no discernible carbonation whatsoever. I can see how some people would love this, but I don’t. Side note--I had this back around Valentine’s Day @ a beer and dessert pairing, and I believe this was with some Breyer’s vanilla bean ice cream, and did go quite well. That was the main reason I got this again, but am disappointed.