Iron Hill Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Iron Hill Newark
Style: Imperial Stout
Newark, Delaware USA

22 ounce bottle shared by EyeDrinkAle at Belgium Comes to Cooperstown 2006. Thanks! 3 ounce sample. Woodsy/oaky, chocolate, slightly sweet aroma. There is a mild hint of booziness and more milkiness as well. Opaque, jet-black, oily, inky body with a tan head and nice lacing. Now this is what an Imperial Stout should look like! Vinous, sweet, mildly astringent start, which turns more chocolatey with a bit of booze and roastiness late. Nice and flavorful.

12oz @ Media Brewery: Pours a dark brown to balck color with almost no head. Almost opaque. Smelled of choclate, coffee, and roasting. Tasted of choclate, coffee and roast as well. Friend called it ’over roasted coffee,’ but I disagree. It was a sweet, slightly dry, but well balanced brew. A very full-bodied, almost viscous beer. A good Russian Imperial.

The Lure:
A biscuity flux tucks in the grapey fruitiness. Roasted malts entice the coffee bean and chocolate vice that is about to occur. Big bubbles burst within, and help in upgrading this dessert to classy realms.

The Festivities:
Thorough bitter roastiness hangs around the chocolate cookie borough, with just enough to last until tomorrow. A slick mouthfeel with which you’d like to snuggle, as you juggle with the dryness of the finish. A complex and knowledgeable impy, with negligible weaknesses.

Transcendence:
An immense cavern with just enough natural lighting for us to behold its intricacies.

Bottle at RBSG 2006. Black body, but did expect anything different? Nose is roasted, coffee-ish and has some dark chocolate notes. Taste is predominantly chocolate and coffee with some burnt oatmeal. Body is medium with a moderate carboantion feel. Finishes with roasty malts, chocolate and coffee-laden bitterness.

GABF 2004 - Black body, medium tan head with moderate lacing. Rich chocolate and coffee creamer nose, fizzy at first drink, then it emerges as an oily residue of smoke and flavorful burnt malts. A little bit of an undesired milk flavor near the finish, and the mouth feel is somewhat fizzy and thin. Medium alcohol presence.

Frothy, lasting head is beige and very irregular. Opaque deepest brown body. Potent espresso and cookie nose, fully chocolatey malt, yet with a bite of cleansing grassy and herbal hops. The necessary complementing grapey and plum notes offer a nibble of complexity, desserty in spirit as it bites into the doughy maltiness. Oaky, cigary finish and faintly spicy character. The body is medium, with fitting carbonation, moderate bitterness, limited alcohol. Good Stuff.

Aroma large round malt and roastedness ,alcohol blowing big time, a little rubber, (usually stale hops),taste is coffee and cream chocolate,smooth as silk, taste much better then aroma. Thanks Kingpin

Pours black with only minimla head. Last year vintage purchased at the brewpub, and Expensive. Roasty malty aroma. First sip is good balance of roast and malt, but a few more gulps finds it satisfying though not complex. More medium mouthfeel, than the thickness expected. Above average carbonation.A good drink but only an average candidate in this style.