Harveys Imperial Stout

2001 bottle. Poured a deep brown to black with no head or carbonation. Aroma is of burnt chocolate, lactic acid and an almost tequila llike alcohol smell. Flavor is again of burnt chocolate witha hint of roasted coffee. A mild hop flavor finds its way through. A syrupy finish leaves a sweet espresso taste. Possibly would be better if had been carbonated.

2001 bottle, shared with a friend. Pours pitch black with only a tiny touch of head, and great legs down the side of the glass. Syrupy, salty, and sweet. Aroma is portish, with notes of wet tobacco, white wine, molasses, soy sauce, vinegar, figs and alcohol. There is a great complexity apparent, unfortunately the white wine smell is a bit too strong and blocks out most of it. Taste is musky and dark, starts off a nice smokiness, roast, slight mocha, tobacco. It hits a sweet, red wine flavor right in the middle that quickly dies out and paves way to a very dry, musky basement finish. Very soft and smooth, though the alcohol is strong. A most unusual and enjoyable stout.

2001 drank in 05/04. Absolutely pitch black color, very thin dark brown head. I held this up to a light bulb and it blocked the light. If I held this up to the sun, I am sure it could block it to as well. The bottled opened up with huge whiff of port, I then smelt the cork which I took from the bottle and it smelt like an extremely complex cabernet sauvignon. A spicy nose is filled with plum wine (umeshu), molasses, cherries, port, sherry, liquorices, oak, dark chocolate, nothing short of orgasmic. Bitter hoppy mouth, coffee, chocolate, oak, very rich and intense, hints of dark fruits and liquorices. It also has a smooth, very low carbonation mouthfeel, lingering bitter finish with some strong dark chocolate notes. This is hands down the best imperial stout I have ever had and due to everything about it, I am going to award my first perfect score on ratebeer, which seems very appropriate for my 1000th rating (off ratebeer) 500th on rate beer. I just can�ft find anything I dislike about this style and this beer. If this is what Royalty in Russia drank, I am going to get a time machine and merry into the family, just so I can drink this stuff every day. Perfectly balanced, unbelievable nose, great depth. I am also drinking this in celebration of the Calgary Flames accent into the Stanley Cup semi-finals (2004). I gotta pick me up a case of this stuff to age. My new favourite beer. Despite being my new favorite beer, I don�ft think I would want to drink more than one bottle due to its intense richness. This would go perfect with a big Cuban.

Bottle into tulip glass, The Friday imperial stout tasting, summer 2005. Second time I’d tasted this beer (the first time, I had a bad bottle, or what I assumed to be a bad bottle; all vinegary, no carbonation, drain pour). 1999 vintage. Flat and inky again with no head. Chocolate notes on the smell remind me of chocolate flavors found in a cabernet sauvignon. Smells also like cork and alcohol. Chewy grapey flavors accenting a liquid chocolate are better than I remember; alcohol noticeable but well integrated. Finish is long and smooth. Alcohol coats the tounge. I remember that cquiroga really liked this. I can appreciate it, but I prefer the American take on the style, I think.

bottle is awesome and unique, corked like a whine not champagne. pours black but with no head. aroma is great, intence plum and ripend fruit, with roasted coffee/ mocha and chocolate. taste is similar to aroma, yet it is super salty, if that makes sense. its kinda strange, maybe i poured in the yeast by accident. either way, it goes down smooth and feels quite creamy. if they could get the saltyness out this would be a low 4 definatly

Poured totally flat and very dark with a prune juice color around the edge of the glass. Not unpleasant aroma-plumy pruney red wine with some soy sauce. Flavors of soy, bitter chocolate, some roasted malt with a sour note but mostly just devoid of sweetness. Assertive flavor and yet watery in texture with a dry brackish finish. Not good but it didn’t really seem spoiled, just way over the hill maybe. Apparently there is still some of this floating around out there but with the thousands of excellent freshly brewed beers available these days, I can’t recommend taking a chance on this one, and it wasn’t cheap either. 2000.

2000 vintage, black with no head and lacing. aroma of red wine, chocolate, and alcohol. taste was dry with sourness and some fruit. can appreciate but not my kind of thing.

2001 – Black body with a lasting brown head; Huge, fantastic nose, with loads of complexity: Sweet dark overripe cherries, cinnamon on the on side, on the other almost Flemish sour again with cherries (sour ones), almost Kriek character, this together with salty soy sauce, dust, resin even rot, this is amazing!: WHAT A SURPRISE to pour this beer into your mount! It is so salty that it almost hurts, with a very late bitterness in the finish. The body is thick and oily, totally flat. In the finish you have the same bitterness and taste as in a super black espresso, the same explosion of taste as well, this together with condensed licorice. In the very late finish there are loads of hazelnuts and even notes of flowery perfume. I have never had anything like this, it is very special and just fantastic!