Nils Oscar Imperial Stout

Brewed by Nils Oscar
Style: Foreign Stout
Nyköping, Sweden

If balance is your thing (why not?), then a candidate for the best RIS. Black with little head. A bit of chocolate and medium plusmouthfeel, smooth, lightly spicey. Goes down beautifully. Satisfying aftertaste.

33 cl bottle, best before 2013? Dark brown with burgundy edges and a khaki head. Nose of coffee, molasses and peanut brittle. Medium light body, light carb. Coffee and plums gradually bitters. Solid but not Imperial.

Bottle. Labeled at 7%. Pours a deep black body with thin head. Aroma is roast, bitterness, chocolate, light yeast. Flavor is chocolate, bitterness, thin with a nice roast quality. Very drinkable. Nice mouthfeel, makes it a rich Imperial Stout without the heavy alcohol burn that is plagued by so many I.S.

Pours a very dark brown with a fairly mediocre tan head. Nose is roasty, chocolate and coffee, with hints of vanilla...but mostly coffee. Flavor is similar, with the roast taking on a larger role than in the nose. Finish is medium in length and fullness. Overall, this beer is a bit of a disappointment, and my second such disappointment in as many beers from Nils Oscar. Flavor and nose do improve considerably with warming, though they’re still a tad thin. This obviously rates well, so maybe this beer’s a hit-or-miss/year-to-year type brew that lacks consistency. I don’t know. But it just doesn’t cut it with the best imperial stouts, or even the second tier (very good) imperials. And considering that I can get four Old Rasputins for a little more than one bottle of this...well, that’s just too easy a choice to make!

Bottle from Capones, sampled with Stegosaurus. Dark pour with the typical roast\ coffee aroma same in the taste but I got to tell you that Stegosaurus and I found this to be a little thin and watery. We were a little dissapointed.

11.2oz bottle (mine says 7%). Poured a dark, dark brown color with an averaged sized tan head. Aromas of roast, coffee, chocolate, and a trace of dark fruits. Tastes of roast, chocolate, vanilla, and some dark fruits.

My bottle shows this at being 7% ABV rather than the 6.5% on the beer’s page. No matter. It pours a dark mahogany body, nearly black, with a short lived brown head. It has an aroma of dark roasted malt, aniseed, chocolate syrup, and a touch of charred wood. Seems a bit thin for an Imperial Stout, but still with a smooth mouthfeel. The flavor has all of the above and the addition of dark dried fruits and a nutty, woody bitterness. Very nice.

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50cl bottle, with thanks to sunevdj. Pours a dark black with a towering bubbly tan head, good lacing. Aroma is a bit thin, but presence of roasted malts, light smoke, and powdered cocoa. Flavor is thinner, but nice and roasty/burnt, with some chocolate, coffee, and a gentle hoppy bitterness. Not a butt kicking powerful Imperial Stout, but solid and enjoyable.