Harveys Imperial Stout

Bottle @ HBK Black Beer Festival, Nynäshamn Backlog 26 Nov 2004
2001 vintage. Acidic aroma and raisins, and whatever you call that white stuff under an orange peel. Full bodied mature cheese. Black currant? 5/4/5/5/12 3.1
RERATE:
Gravity @ 32nd Cambridge Beer Festival, UK. 25th May 2005
Wow! My beer of the festival. Cask was marked 9.5%. Rich and so full bodied that you can almost chew it. Slightly sour (old - as in matured), complex. Quality chocolate. Quality red wine. Smells like a summer’s day. Papery, peppery and a bit salty. A beer to hunt for! Wow!

Bottle, 1999 vintage tasted on 1/2/05. It seems that this had past it’s prime and was on the downhill. Poured with absolutely no head, was very vinous. Would like to try an example that is actually in it’s prime.

Black color with virtually no head. Aroma is soy sauce mainly, with the alcohol very present in the nose. Mild roasted malt aroma with a slightly sour, soy aftertaste. Very little carbonation.

Oil like black body with no head. The aroma is alcohol and vinegar. Taste is strong and oily with no real malt noticeability, tastes more like a cheap port. A little harsh for may liking.

Bottled. 2001 Vintage. An oily black coloured beer with no head whatsoever. The aroma has soy sauce and vinuous alcohol. The taste is really thick and syrupy with an oily sour taste and a fishy aggressive alcohol taste. A real sipping beer which is too extreme for its own good.

Bottled, vintage 2001, tasted 2006, 3.4: Quite a difference from my previous bottle. The basic flavors are still there but less harsh and over the top. And no sour vinegar aroma of flavor. Bottled, vintage 2000, tasted 2004, 1.9: Although I’m in to aggresive out of the ordinary flavorfull and extreme beers, this one goes over the edge. Aroma has some vinegar, what I like in a Lambic but not in a Imperial Stout. Also a little varnish in the aroma from the alcohol. Looks ok, very dark black, small dark brown head, few lace. Flavors are again aggresive, with a sourish start of vinegar and black-currant, very roasted like the smell of an ashtray. Overwhelming indeed but too much of it. Heavy, thick, sandy, little dry, very warming.

2001 version, best before 2006. Corked 330 ml bottle. Pours jet black with a thin dark brown head. Huge aroma of balsamic vinegar, black cherry, some soy sauce and black licorice. The flavour is also very interesting, sweet malty flavour, cherry, balsamic vinegar, salty soy, molasses, and a bit of alcohol. The body is thick and oily, but the acidity keeps this from being cloying. As it warms the fruity and acetic notes increase. Long roasty finish. A very nice brew and surprisingly drinkable.

Bottle (2000 English Version): Aroma is very wine-like. Some sour cherry and chocolate aromas too. Pours a dark brown, virtually black. Don’t know where that picture came from, but mine looks nothing like it. No head to speak of at all. Up front this is very sour for an imperial. Sour cherry aroma just gives way to nothing but a sour and salty flavor up front. Cherry and light chocolate come in at the finish with some coffee making it in the final appearance of the flavors. Oily texture. Not at all what I had in mind when I was looking for an imperial. Reminds me a little of Bell’s Cherry Stout. Not at all what I was looking for when I opened this bottle. Not an aging expert by any means, but maybe this just isn’t meant to sit this long. Nice aroma inflates this score or it would be under a 2.