Legend Imperial Ale

Formerly brewed at Legend Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Richmond, Virginia USA

Serve in Snifter

Unique and unexpected aroma of tart black cherry, pineapple sweetness, plum, fresh earth, and does indeed have a bit of a smoky, spicy, meaty quality, along with some roasty malt and fudgy chocolate. Opaque, thick-looking murky black color, lightly coating the glass, with an uneven, subsiding head. Flavor begins with a grainy, roasty coffeeish maltiness, shortly becoming tangy, tart and fruity with notes of prune, cherry and licorice, finishing with a blend of pineapple and grapefruit juice, wood, vinegar, spices, pepper, doughy yeast and faint brown sugar. Dry, grainy palate, full-bodied and lightly warming. Quite challenging and hard to rate. Comes in a ludicrously huge 22 oz. bottle; certainly seems a natural candidate for a 7-10 oz. 'nip' bottle. Only really approachable at 60 F+. Thanks to Kinz for the opportunity to sample this esoteric and exceedingly rare Imperial. I'm also not sure if it's truly enjoyable, but it is kind of fascinating in a strange way. Seems to be perhaps an attempt at an A. Le Coq-style Imperial Stout?

My pleasure to add another beer to the bin. Found this Legend product lurking amongst their standard brewery offerings at the corner wine and beer store. Pours a pitch black. Light barely penetrates around the edges. Rapidly diminishing medium brown head, but leaves a ring around the edge of the glass. Smells like a steak that has been marinating in worcestishire (sp?) and onions. Sort of weird. The flavor is of grilled steak with some A1 sauce splashed over it. I'm not certain if I like this or not. The whopping 11% is pretty cleverly hidden behind the malt attack. Finishes sort of sweet and sour. To the brewer's credit, they were clearly trying to make something different, and they succeeded. I've never tasted anything quite like this before. There are definitely hops there, but I can't figure out what the heck they are. I pretty much try anything my local breweries put out, and I commend the effort at expirementation, but I'm not quite completely on board with this brew. Though I am definitely "feeling" this one.