Harveys Imperial Stout

Brewed by Harveys
Style: Imperial Stout
Lewes, England

2000 vintage. Pours a deep black, no head at all, no carbonation whatsoever. VERY thick pour, like a light oil. Nose is winelike, like a merlot, with roasted, sweet notes, plus prunes and, oddly, soy sauce. Alcohol hits you right off, then some vinous flavors before a bitter coffee flavor takes over. Very smooth, extremely thick syrupy body. Bitter coffee and chocolate finish, some molasses in the end. Do I like it? I don’t know, but I can say I’ve never had anything like it.

2000 Vintage: I saw this beer in a liquor store early January 06 and picked it up. I read the ratings on this before I had it and knew I was either going to love it or hate it. I personally did not enjoy this one. I thought it was bitter with no real coffee notes. It definately had a Russian characteristic to it. I wasn’t able to finish half the bottle. As always though I never hate to try any brew.

2000 vintage, pour was black as used motot oil with about the same consistancy and no head. Aroma was straight up merlot. It was heavy but smooth with a bitter choclate flavor.

[bottle from beers of europe] extremely complex aroma, dark chocolate, lots of fruits, cherry, vinous, lightly acidic (balsamic?) wood shavings. body has almost no carbonation finish is long, smooth with a port coming through, very slight acidic edge again. great stuff.

Thanks Paul (Dickinsonbeer). Dark bloody brown body with a flat pour. Aroma is of leather, brett, bread, plums, and a touch of acetic acid. Dark fruity flavors with elements of molasses, soy, and tart raspberries. Gives the impression of an aged imperial stout mixed with a mature English old ale. Flat and syrupy but not unpleasant given the complexity of flavors. Nice and distinct and a very tasty sipper.

1999 vintage, thanks to my friend Terry. Brought it up from my cellar and removed the paper covering the cork. While waiting for it to warm a bit, the cork spontaneously erupts out of the bottle. Thank goodness I wasn’t leaning over it at the time. Pours black with a semi-fizzy dark brown head. Aroma of roasted chocolate, tart cherries, raspberries. Taste is of mild chocolate and coffee with some acidic cherries, leading to a semi-dry somewhat tart and bitter finish. Modest alcohol warmth. The flavors are well-balanced, perhaps slightly restrained. A smooth nice stout.

2001 Bottle. I cant rate this accurately as it’s very hard to compare to anything I’ve had. Ignore the numbers, you might love or hate this beer. The last review is pretty accurate. Smells like an aged port wine. Kinda smells like grandma’s attic. No head, dark and thick. Coffee/roasted flavor is noticable but almost overpowered by the port-ish qualities. One of the most difficult beers to drink I’ve ever had. If you’re a beer connoisseur its worth a try, it will expand your perception. I see it as an experimental "oh wow" beer thats put down after a couple sips. For its strength in flavor, 9% is a little low. If it were more like 15+ I might buy it again.

Yep, this was wacky. Some 2000 Vintage of this stuff was recommended to me by RJ at Holiday Market as a...uh...different experience. The aroma first off was quite incredible, lots of alcohol and the character of something that has been aged for years (which makes sense since it was over 5 years old). There was a little beer in there, but it was more like whiskey or some other liquors that I don’t know the smell of. It was dark black, prettymuch no head, coated the glass like motor oil. Then the taste, just like I was told, Worchestershire sauce. Really nice worchestershire sauce, but still, this wasn’t a beer, it was a sauce. The mouth feel was great (light for a sauce though), handling the tremendous body and thickness without becoming syrupy and unpleasant. Still, I coulen’t finish a small glass of it. After I take the bottle over to my parent’s so my Dad can try it, it’ll probably stay in his fridge with a masking tape lable that says "Worchter Sauce" and we’ll put it on some hamburgers. This probably tasted like great, crazy beer a couple years ago....