 fredandboboflo (633), East Setauket, New York, USA
Dec 29, 2007 Updated: Jun 30, 2008
(First ever rating, left in tact for posterity.) Bottle. Black as far as the eye can tell. Very small, dark tan head. Aroma mostly of sweet, dark fruits, some alcohol, blended nicely, but I’d like more to come through I didn’t pause to savor the aroma as I am sometimes compelled to do.. Flavor overwhelmingly roasted, tons of bitter chocolate, dark fruits, coffee in the background. Definitely a sweetness to it, but more bitter than most noticeably sweet imperial stouts, excellent balance not shying away from either end of the spectrum. Palate full, weighty, but not too sticky. Little carbonation. Overall awesome imperial stout. 7-4-10-4-17 Rerate 6/30/08: Bottle. Still quite black. Aroma starts off very roasty with tinges of coffee, some alcohol-soaked plums/prunes, later segways into unsweetened chocolate, the most natural, dead-on such scent I’ve gotten to date in a beer. Flavor has highlights of super powerful alcohol soaked plums/prunes along with a constant roastedness and smooth, creamy chocolate. Roasted, semi-bitter, chalky finish. Not heavy for an impy stout. Exquisite. 9-4-9-4-17
southamptonsam (51), New York, USA
Oct 6, 2008 Beautiful Imperial Stout. Lovely head, great body, smooth and balanced. I love Imperial Stouts and this is one of the best. It should also get an extra .2 of a point for its most aesthetic bottle.
explosivebeer (35), Washington, USA
Oct 3, 2008 This beer pours in a thick black viscous way, with a modest light-brown head, and a dense body. The aroma has a lot of chocolate, some alcohol, and a strong graininess to it. The body is thick with chocolate, caramel, malty sweetness, and a generous bitterness as well. It is very good but there is also something acrid about it. I’d like to try it again and see if that same characteristic is still present.
Ifyouinsist (6), , Devon, England
does not count  Sep 30, 2008 Black. Dark head, coarser than the God Jul, which it resembles, but with an added leaden bitterness bludgeoning the cloying sweetness into submission, resutling in a sort of car crash.Horrible taste, bitter aftertaste.
Alraomon (63), Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Sep 28, 2008 A nice jetblack... like another IS I had the other night, the head is a sparkling brown, like brown sugar. Thick and creamy - both the pour and the head topping. The bottle itself is pretty sexy, to boot.
Chocolate aromas - more of a white chocolate. Vanilla notes, roasted malts. Something about it reminds of of "Kinder Surprise" (which you typically won’t find in the US, apparently - but a chocolate / white chocolate concoction).
Not as huge as some, but still very full flavoured. More subtleness to pick through, between iced coffee, a light and fine chocolate. Like the aroma, I find a little vanilla floating about in here. This is excellent.
Soft and creamy... very smooth. Absolutely spot on here, and an excellent example of what I like in a bigger style.
An excellent stout, and I’m certainly glad I picked up a couple of these on a roadtrip, as it’s not available here (but certainly something to try to get carried). A gentle sipper, but each taste is exquisite enough that it seems wasteful to drink it too quickly. Recommended drinking, here.
malrubius (459), USA
Sep 26, 2008 600 ml bottle in pint glass. Black with lasting dark brown head. (Waiting for it to warm up a little.) Mild roasted dark chocolate aroma. Roasted dark chocolate and dark fruit. Lingering fruity bitterness. Full body medium low carbo. Nice and satisfying but seems to lack complexity and has a strange tartness to the bitterness, possibly from oats. Not as good as the best Imperial Stouts like Yeti and Rasputin, but still good.
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