Karl Strauss 22nd Anniversary Vanilla Imperial Stout

Brewed by Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
San Diego, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle… Deep, dark, crimson ale with a mid-sized, creamy, khaki head. The bouquet is a touch chocolaty with a bit of vanilla. Medium-bodied with fizzy carbonation. The sweet flavor is of vanilla-heavy cream soda. Finishes malty, minerally and lightly sweet. This is more reminiscent of a Scotch ale than an imperial stout. Change the label and it gets a higher score. Very good beer nonetheless. Big-time thanks to darkguardian for sharing the bottle!

22 ounce bottle poured a dark black color. Aromas of chocolate, molasses, bourbon, vanilla, it immediatle had me salivating. Flavors are the same, blended nicely. This stuff was great, if you got any and want some Cigar City stuff hit me up!

opened 5/12/12. Black pour with a finger an a half of tan creamy head. Vanilla aroma I remember from when this beer was fresh has given was to an almost all oak aroma. Still an excellent chocolate vanilla oak flavor in this stout. Wish I had picked up a few more bottles when it was around. Some finishing alcohol burn. Tons of oak aftertaste

Thanks to elnadeau for sharing this bottle with me. This black pour has nice complexity and achieves a great balance between the flavors from the vanilla, the barrels and all of the other complexities

Split this three ways with friends... Oh my. Aroma and flavor is a bit subdued after sitting on this one for a year - but it’s darn good still. Poured a near pitch black - though held up to the light shows a great deal of color shining through. Aroma is very subtle, which worried me a bit at the start. Flavor was pretty darn amazing. I enjoyed it quite a lot - vanilla notes, chocolate, malts, woah.

Pours very dark but is actually a brilliantly clear ruby/amber with a light tan head. Wood and sweet caramel and molasses aromas. On the first sip, you immediately know that you’re in for something special. Dark chocolate and toffee explode out of the gate followed by sweet vanilla and then wood aged bourbon. There’s an almost salty minerality and coffee flavor that follows this sweet assault and it keeps that in check perfectly. Smokiness and an almost cedar-like aroma swirl around as if you were smoking a fine cigar while drinking an Imperial stout. This gives it a depth and sense of age that’s incredible and intangible. Finishes with more smoke and wood along with a light coconut and bittersweet chocolate aftertaste. Damn it, I wish I’d bought more of this when I had the chance. This is one for the books.

22 ounce. Not a very heavy body. Bit thin. Big taste of vanilla and oak. Tasty. But I want more stout in there to carry the show: the vanilla.

Sampled at the DC Local Tasting a 22oz bottle pours a watery, translucent mahogany brown with some cloudy white head. Nose is very mild, light vanilla, light sweetness, light malt. FLavor is sweet, vanilla, brown sugar, malty, cakey. Full bodied, sweet finish.

Bottle. Pours brown with a red tint and thin off-white head head; spare lacing. Aroma is bourbon, vanilla, oak, and light chocolate. Flavor is vanilla, roasted malt, oak, and light chocolate. Medium body, warmth, and carbonation.

Bottle. Clear light maroon color, small white head. Aroma of subtle vanilla. Extreme vanilla taste, with Hershey’s syrup.

Big chocolate nose with cola and whole grain bread. The taste is sweet with lots of toffee and chocolate, some chocolate.