Le Cheval Blanc Impérial Stout

Brewed by Le Cheval Blanc
Style: Imperial Stout
Montreal, Canada

Serve in Snifter

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I've been anxious to have a shot at Le Cheval Blanc's imperial for their beers are usually pretty unusual. It happens this pint was a well-made stout, rather restrained, but with quite a good coffee aspect together with some roasted dark chocolate. Mostly malty and creamy from nitro-pushing. Very milky altogether with a respectable balancing bitter finish. It seemed overall fairly typical when you can walk to l'Amère à Boire within give or take 5 minutes and have such a similar low-profile imperial stout.

18 months old example, on tap at the brewpub, 17 june 2010. Pitch black with a nice creamy moka head. Aromas of dried fruits, cherries, roasted nuts and chocolate. Almost full body, loads of chocolate, milk chocolate and a gentle roasted finish. Defenitely better with age in my memory. Long bitter chocolate finish with some warming alcohol shining trough. Remembers me of the classic Rasputin from North Coast. Very good.

jet black pour, big fluffy mocha head. Aroma is quite roasty, with notes of soy, and cocoa. Flavor is again very roasty, with some burnt soy, and a touch of burnt coffee in the finish.

A deep dark stout with a thick moka head. A light chocolate and coffee aroma, with light cherry and fruit notes. In mouth, roasted malts, bitter chocolate, powdery, some light sweet notes, very roasted. medium bodied. On tap at brepwub, Feb. 14 2009.

Verre de 14 oz, à la brasserie de Montréal. Arômes de réglisse et de grains torréfiés. Robe noire et opaque, belle mousse mocha qui disparaît rapidement. Les céréales sont très présentes dans cette stout et sont accompagnées de touches de chocolat et de réglisse. Finale assez sèche pour le style. Très bon.

UPDATED: MAR 8, 2009 Nice aroma of roasted malt, fruity esters and chocolate. The pour reveals a pitch black color with a thin light brown head. Good flavor of dark chocolate with roasted malt and mild fruity esters, there is dryness and bitterness in the end. The body has a light to medium thickness with a liquorous texture and moderate carbonation. This is not a great imperial stout, but it’s well-made and interesting.

En fût. Verre de 14 oz à la brasserie. Arôme: Odeur de chocolat au lait avec une pinte de café. Apparence: La couleur est noire opaque. Présence d’un moyen col beige mousseux et d’une large dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Forte présence de café amer avec une pointe chocolaté. Longue durée de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture crémeuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Forte amertume de café en arrière goût. (Rating #1493)

In short: A smooth creamy chocolaty body with a weird finish. Tasty. A bit “off”. Below average for the style.
How: Tap at brewpub, freshly put on tap batch. This most recent batch is 8% (this page currently shows 7%)
The look: Black body with a medium tan head
In long: Grainy malts, smooth roastiness, creamy. Toasted brown bread with a little slice of banana covered by a whole lot of chocolate and Nutella. So far so good. But I didn’t like the dry finish, something wrong here with a rather inappropriate astringency, burnt banana peel, lemon peel and plastic. Parts of it I liked, parts of it I didn’t. And to think I was all exited to see this excellent brewpub come out with their first imperial stout in a few years. They should brew it more often, they need practice.

Bu en fut (14 oz seulement) le 29/2/08. Wow, ça fait plus de trois ans que quelqu’un n’a pas donné un opinion sur cette bière, j’imagine que ça fait aussi longtemps que le Cheval Blanc l’on pas brassé. Pure noire, petit collet beige. Arome de café mocha mi-amère plaisant. Goût de café sec et un peu amère, des notes de cacao un peu sucré, avec une arrière goût de porter fumé un peu alcoolisé. Pas typique comme impérial mais c’est bien ça!

Entered from notes from Fall/Winter 2003/2004. Roasted and chocolate malt aroma. Opaque black with lasting tan head (Nitro). Coffee, chocolate flavours are simple and sweet but enjoyable. Creamy smooth body. Somehow seems to me that the nitro strips some character. On tap at the brewpub.