Harveys Imperial Stout

Brewed by Harveys
Style: Imperial Stout
Lewes, England

Aroma:chocolate an d wine.... Appearance:dark black no head... Flavor:alcohol,chocolate and wine.... Not a good imperial stout..

Vintage 2000. Pours dark chestnut brown with a thin light tan head. Interesting and unusual aroma of soy, tangy dark fruit, cinnamon and licorice. The unusual aroma carries over to the flavor. The body is very soylike and salty/smokey with dark fruit (plum) and licorice, woody flavors and a healthy dose of alcohol. Can't say this reminds me of any other Imperial Stout; this beer is in a category of its own. Reminds me a bit of the Harviestoun Old Engine Oil Special Reserve I recently tried, with a similar oily body and relatively dry but sour malt.

Bottle from Hyde Park Express. Smelled like alcohol and rotten prunes. Poured a gloppy black with out even the vaguest suggestion of a head. Salty and nominally sweet. Tastes of oysters and burnt bread dipped in milk. Really didn’t like it and I like most stouts. Just too many unfavorable flavors that aren’t properly balanced.

2001 Vintage -- This poured oil black out of the bottle. There was no head, only an ominous greasy look to it. It smelled of red wine and vinegar. Oily mouthfeel. This is very vinous with lots of red wine acidity and wood barrell. This is interesting and an infrequent treat, but not something I want to have too often.

Bottle. Black. Really black. Almost no head. Very special taste. Sour almost medicine like. Rich aroma and it takes some getting use to. Very good but a real challenge.

1999. black syrupy pour. small orange, brown head. black color. vinous aroma with chocolate. very fruity, almost lambic scented. maybe some oak too. flavor is bitter coffee, maple syrup with lots of wood barrel flavor. strange green olive funk taste too. very complex and well made. i just don’t dont like the woody olive funk coming through. full bodied.

Maibockaddict and I shared this bottle. We also had it once a long time ago. This time it was much better. Dark in color. Strong aromas of malty. Very malty. Chocolatety. Nice warming finish. Good beer.

2000 bottle, sampled April 2002: My cork appeared fresh, but this beer was completely still. I don’t mind that so much, but the flavors became so dense that in the end it wasn’t palatable. Just a hint of carb would have improved it tremendously (ala DfH World Wide Stout - the only beer remotely similar, yet this is not as sweet). Appearance was a dark opaque brown with red highlights. No head, no lacing (not even a hint of either). Aroma was wonderful, fruity and complex: dark fruits, plus, dates, vanilla, tobacco. Flavor was similar, but as I said, dense, and difficult to isolate flavors, with a heavy thick mouthfeel that coated the tongue. Moderately cloying. Medium bitterness, with some roasted notes. This was difficult to finish, and was a disappointment. I’ll try again, hoping for a good seal.