Il Vicino St. Bobs Imperial Stout

On tap at GABF 2009. This was my first beer from the state of New Mexico, and it KICKED ASS! Jet black in color with a substantial tan head that leaves good lacing. Aroma is awesome with chocolate, roast, coffee, and dark fruit notes. Flavor is intense and complex with sweetness and roasted malt, coffee, chocolate, vanilla, raisin, and black cherry. Full-bodied with a silky smooth mouthfeel and alcohol warmth despite the lack of alcohol on the flavor. Excellent RIS overall.

2006 version. A bottled private stash courtesy of Brady. A huge beer with an excellent coffee nose. Nice chocholate notes and light on astringent patent character. Alcohol is clean and hidden for its size. Some carmel notes in the background. I believe this will come on tap some time this winter.

Pours wtih a black body topped by a medium thick head with a good amount of lacing. It’s sweet, malty and roasty with a nice coffee note and a touch of chocolate with hints of vanilla. Full bodied, smooth and a touch dry.

Pours a deep dark brown with rust colored highlights. The head is like a bubbly chocolate mousse -- dissipating rather quickly and leaving a thick sticky lace. Aroma has a strong presence of chocolate, roasted grains and malt; light on the aroma hop. Bubblegum notes appear as the beer warms. Palate is medium to full-bodied, lightly syrupy, yet effervescent. The hop bitterness sneaks up and dominates at the end. Flavor has a sweet and chocolaty start, no real middle and a mouth numbing bitter finish. An interesting and well-put-together imperial stout; flavors that develop and change as the beer warms. Not necessarily a complex beer, but a well-balanced mix of extremes and standards.

Draught at the taproom. Great creamy mouthfeel with even dry/sweet flavor balance. Pronounced chocolate and black malt falvors. Clean but nice complexity.

tap at taphouse-pours pitch black with a sudsy rocky tan head-kinda fluffy also. big roast, dark chocolate, rasin and a slight lactic quality on the aroma. I taste alot of black patent here, but Brady said "its there, but not all that much". very well balanced with all parts equal-rasin, hops, roast, chocolate. some alcohol, but its not overbearing for such a young beer. I like. THanks Brady!

Mostly opaque, black body with a burgundy tone and a tan head. Aroma of dark, unsweetened chocolate, anise, and fruity plum-like notes. Huge, intense flavor like espresso, chocolate, and caramelized raisins. Has hints of soy and cough syrup, but not to the point of detracting. Hop presence is buried but some firm bitterness carries away most of the residual sweetness. Long, lingering flavor in the finish, seems to last an eternity. Big, chewy body. This beer seems to have come together just as it was released, because I detected a more prominent cough syrup note just a week earlier. This is an intense, flavorful and manly imperial stout.