Hopfenstark Kamarad Friedrich

Brewed by Hopfenstark
Style: Imperial Stout
L’Assomption, Canada

Draft at spuyten. Black with a dark brown head. I hate to this this beer turned but there’s a sulphur flavor along with massive amounts of alcohol. A one dimensional alcohol bomb.

Draught. At Vices et Versa. Can I just type "yeah!!" ? - guess not. Opaque black, thick and oily-looking, with a somewhat small brown creamy cap of head. Loved - LOVED - the aroma of this; deep nutty/oily deep roast malt, tart fruit, lactic, creamy, and tons of green hops: mmmmmm. Taste - almost as good - had a well-balanced chocolate/cherry tart malt thing happening, and the green hops didn’t wimp out at all. Slick, thick body, just mildly acidic in the end, but the heavy roast lingered equally with the hop bitterness. I suppose the alcohol was quite prominent, but I was too busy appreciating the other aspects to really notice - 11% is just fine by me for a well-made impy. My notes concluded with: "wow! fucking awesome!"

Draught at Vices & Versa. Pours black with an average size creamy light-brown head. Nice aroma of roasted malt, green hops, chocolate and alcohol. Flavour follows the aroma with roasted malt, green hops and chocolate but adds some light smoke and the alcohol’s pretty much totally hidden. Nice roasty bitter finish. Full bodied. This is a wonderful Impy Stout! I would buy this regularly if I could.

My Quebec ratebeerian friends, you are a harsh bunch! This is an outstanding impy in my humble opinion, and I seem to be on the high side of everything from this brewery so far. To each their own. Anyway, aroma is solid - lots of hops, lots of booze, some chocolate. Pitch black, good sized chestnut brown head. Rich nutty taste, more booze, lots of hops. Good balance. A little raw, but very flavourful nonetheless and a beautiful sipper. I can’t wait to try the oak aged version, as this reminded me quite a bit of regular Yeti...

Draught (6 oz sample) at Vices et Versa, Montreal. Deep pitch black with a medium-sized dark tan head. Aroma is very dark and roasty, with some interesting fruitiness, and rich espresso notes. Full bodied. Flavour is sweet and warm, with well-roasted chocolate malts, dark roasted coffee, and a long, warm, moderately bittered finish. Booze is a bit too prominent in the end. Otherwise, a pretty nice impy.

en fût au vice versa, grosse bière noire, très forte avec des effluves d’alcool, trop forte, manque d’équilibre et cette fin bouche qui goûte trop l’alcool. pas mon style.

In short: Simplistic extra-strong roasted stout.
How: Tap at brewery at their first year anniversary party
The look: Black body with a small tan head.
In long: Very roasted beer. Distant roasted coffee beans sensation. Very syrupy. Shy on the hops side, too much so. No chocolate or fruity notes, just a whole lot of sweet roasted malts and omnipresent alcohol. A true sipper. Not bad at all although about as refined and brutal as a three-cord hard-core punk song.

Oily impenetrable black pour. Woah, that’s a monster. 11%, yet seemingly not very attenuated at all. There is still plenty of residual sweetness in a chewy, fudgey, strongly cerealic form. Yet the 11% is quite obvious, the alcohol is very warming, a bit too much for my personal tastes. Limited hop presence fails to cut through the out of proportion bigness. Well, I’ll be curious to taste how this evolves since their others seem to change a whole lot, but this is a type of beer I’ve grown tired of – my hypothesis is that I like drinking in gulps rather than sips.