Harveys Imperial Stout

Brewed by Harveys
Style: Imperial Stout
Lewes, England

2000 brewing sampled 5/2006. Sampled from an 11.2 oz brown bottle this beer poured thick, black and oily with no head whatsoever. The aroma is an incredibly luscious mix of sweet chocolate, plum raising and port wine. The flavor is huge with flavors of plum, raisin, port wine and a hint of aged vinegar. The body is super thick. There are hints of chocolate, sour fruits, molasses and roasty malts that appear on the aftertaste just lightly underneath the strong tangy front flavor. This beer is amazingly vast and rich though sadly it manages to smell better than it tastes.

Bottle at Købehavnske Øldage 2006. Bours black with a quickly dimminishing tanned head. Smells Portish. Low/no carbonation. Tastes sweet and portlike. Aromas of liquirish, prunes and port. hints of coffee and alcohol. VERY full bodied. A full bottle is more than enough for me.

Bottle. 2001 vintage. Pours a black colour with no head. Fruity aroma slightly lactic acid. Malty fruity flavor with hints of licourice and chocolate. Malty warming aftertaste with some sourness.

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