Nils Oscar Imperial Stout

Pours black with a medium tan head. Smell is mildly roasty and lightly chocolately and caramel and ash. Taste is smooth roastiness and a bit creamy, but still thin bodied for the style. Nice and lightly hoppy to go along with the dark roasty flavor. Pretty good, and not the letdown I feared after having the Nils Oscar Barley Wine.

11.2 oz bottle. Thin, burnt astringent black malt and plastic/chemical nose, all of the chocolate malt and roast is buried beneath this terrible astringency and chemical cleaner character. Flavor is a bit flat, a bit thin - moderate roast, some more cleaner/fluid flavors, light chocolate. Ultimately the body is just too weak and the roast is too weak. Against the grain big time for me.

The aroma has bread and a malty sweetnes. It’s dark with head. The flavor is malty with hops and an aftertaste of coffee.

Bottle from Plaza liquors - Pours a deep brown color with a one finger thick tan head. Very light spotty lacing. Aroma is roasted malt, chocolate, and dark esters. Flavor is much of the same. Medium body. A good beer.

Black with a creamy head. Liquorice, coffee and smoke in the aroma with a nice roasty bitterness in the flavour like sweetened mokka. I must admit though, I am not blown away...

Pours a deep black with a tan head. Aroma has notes of dark fruit and coffee. Flavors are a combination of dark chocolate and roasted coffee with a dark fruit backgound. Nice lingering finish on the palate.

A vigorous pour produces a fat-one-finger thick, frothy, lightly brown tinged, tan colored head. The beer is near black, but shows flashes of brilliantly clear, deep ruby notes around the edges if held up directly to the light. The aroma is somewhat rich with lots of dark malt character; aromas of chocolate, well toasted rich grain notes, a touch of dark roast coffee, a touch of charcoal, and some earthy, dusty burnt grain husk aromatics. Underneath the dark malt is a touch of burnt fruit character reminiscent of overly broiled raisins and prunes.

Somewhat light feeling for an Imperial Stout, but well within character for a stout of 7% abv. The beer is quite roast dominated with burnt malts providing both a touch of acidity and a palate coating, dry burnt character up front. This palate coating burnt note is counter balanced and somewhat washed away by a sweetness that takes hold towards the middle into the finish and which provides flavors of burnt, sweet plums and roast raisins. This has a fair amount of sweetness to it, especially as it warms up; the sweetness is perhaps not as rich and malty as I prefer in an Imperial Stout, but is instead more like a fruit-forward, clean sweetness. This has a fairly low carbonation (thus the minimal head despite a vigorous pour), this makes this a bit smoother drinking. The beer has a medium heft to it, enough to coat the palate just a bit, but not enough to keep this from being fairly drinkable.

As a contemporary Imperial Stout this seems quite week, but even ten years ago this was a decent strength version. A tasty brew that seems a bit more like a strong stout. I almost feel like I could quaff a couple pints of this brew, which says something both about the strength and the flavor of this brew. Tasty!

Purchased: <a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=698>Plaza Liquors, Tucson AZ

Pours deep black into a snifter. Mocha head recedes leaving spot lacing to skim surface. Chocolate and espresso aromas. Crisp, dry burnt chocolate upfront with a lasting pit fruit and espresso finishl