Harveys Imperial Stout

Bottle (275ml, corked, dated 2000). Poured an extremely flat black, a few oily looking bubbles for a head. Aroma is indeed very medicinal, licorice, elderberries, alcohol, sour blackberries, chocolate, coffee, vanilla; overall quite pungent. Taste is overpoweringly cough-syrup - tart cherry and other berries, severely burnt malt, maybe hops, something else anyway that makes me smack my lips in a bad way, and fresh mint! Incredibly sticky, motor oily, sweet and medicinal mouthfeel. Tar is right - I love imperial stouts and really wanted to love this. Points for originality, but not really pleasant - doesn’t really warm well either, gets harsher and the alcohol muscles in too much

Bottle. This was from 2001. Black, no head. Bitter chocolate and strongalmost medicinal aromas. Liquorice, chewy malts and tar, but I can’t get away from this medicinal nature that I found repulsive. 1.3/5.0 I think that my palate has changed over the past few years or perhaps the 2003 is more approachable. Had this 3 times recently, on a train back from Lewes with AndrewC, and twice at The Royal, Oak, Borough. Huge amount of character. Great aroma, still slightly medicinal, great wide mouthfeel and very interesting dark fruit flavours. So different to the run of the mill impy stouts.

After 2 disappointing bottles I wasn’t expecting much. Still, this bottle delivered. 1999 bottle sampled 7/05. Absolutely flat and pitch black. Nose is vinous w. sherry, brown sugar, molasses, balsamic. Quite a bit of body left on this one - nice and rich. Tart sherry/balsamic vinegar. Deeply roasted malt & very dark chocolate. Quite fruity (thats the vinegar talking.) Finish has some cherries, oak, astringency.

A deep dark black in color. No head whatsoever to speak of. A deep roast coffee aroma. One of the more unusual beers I have tasted. A thick roast flavor and somewhat like cough syrup. But, not the same texture. Had a very strong alchohol presence.

Vintage 2001. - Black in colour, with no head. Overwelming nose with notes of treacle, tobacco and raisins. The taste is dominated by roasty flavours, and by the thickness of this stuff,- it really fills out your mouth. Ive never tasted anything like it, this really is unique!

My 2000 bottle must have become flat. In the picture for this selection, I see a head on the glass of black stuff. Anyway, I need to re-rate a good bottle in the future. Straightforward molasses and coffee flavors. Very thick and promising, wish it was carbonated at least a little.

2001 Bottle. Black pour, no head at all, looked like one of my attempts at the style in homebrewing. Syrupy looking. Some roasted notes and strong molasses notes in aroma. Thick mouthfeel. Roasted flavours dominate the taste, which were nice, but as it warms becomes almost wine like and strong. This was ok, but pretty simple.

(Bottle 27,5 cl) Pitch black, completely opaque, tar-like appearance. Absolutely no head. Extremely thick and - again - tar-like. No carbonation whatsoever. Fatty, earthy aromas, some cork also. Dry with a bitter finish. Actually not overly complex, but completely extreme in body. A very difficult beer to finish. 250605