 estoppel (1014), Buffalo, New York, USA
Dec 20, 2003
Dark brown, opaque, big tan head. Nose of Cascades and chocolate. Cascades and alcohol dominate the flavor, with brandyish notes and some coffee and chocolate. Bitter finish. Mouthfeel is rather thin for the style (although the most recent example I had was DFH WWS and that drives my comparison, so maybe that's not entirely fair). The nose and style suggested that this was reminiscent of Storm King, but this one is nowhere near as good as Victory's elixir. RERATE after two and a half (plus a couple of barleywines so you'll excuse the typos!): The alcohol presence is gone, and the chocolate is far more prevalent. I'm starting to like this one a lot more, but I may just be drunk or someshthing. ;)
Praetorian (42), Los Angeles, California, USA
Aug 20, 2008 Black in color with a small light brown with minimal lacing. The aroma is of coffee and caramel with a strong alcohol backbne. The flavor is of coffee grounds with a sweet start and a bitter finish. Very mellow. The texture is creamy. A bit timid for an imperial stout, but enjoyable nonetheless.
thickfreakness (52), Austin, Texas, USA
Aug 19, 2008 Pours black with ruby edges when held to the light. 1-inch mocha head that lasts a bit. Coffee, chocolate, burnt/roasted malts and earthy hops on the nose. Taste is a lot of the same with lots of coffee and chocolate and bitter roast/hopped finish. A little on the high side of carbonation and medium bodied. A good, year round RIS.
yumyum (50), barrie, Ontario, Canada
Aug 18, 2008 decent but was outclassed in my opinion by what it was matched up against (victoy storm king and nogne imperialstout) Pours black with a light tan head which persisted longest of the 3. Perhaps the hoppiest of the 3. Aroma was decent but paled to nogne. Flavour was good, chocolatey, roasty coffee. Initial trial reminded me of john by imperial stout. Overal a good beer that I will let age a little since it seemed to be lacking something. Perhaps not as balanced as others? I’m not quite sure.
sstackho (242), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Aug 17, 2008 Four 12oz bottles for $9 from Bauer Wines in Boston. Pours black, with a good head. Very good lacing. Rich nose of malts and hops. First taste is strong and warm, but the main taste is hurt by what feels like too much alcohol, so it goes down hot - and I typically have no problem with big beers. Tangy flavour. Nice lingering hop and malt aftertaste. Overall, I’m not actually enjoying this one too much. I will let its brothers age.
heynik1885 (6), tonawanda, New York, USA
does not count  Aug 17, 2008 pours very dark, smell of coffee and chocolate, cola colored type head some lacing on glass, def aware of 9%, coffee tase lingers
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