 kujo9 (1044), North Ridgeville, Ohio, USA
Sep 9, 2004
Bottle: Very dark brown, not opaque as I’d thought it would be, but has a lasting beige head. Nice ruby highlights! Aroma is roasty and chocolatey, chocolatey & roasty. The two aromas sort of intermingle and switch places as it warms from refrigerated temperatures. More chocolate when cool, & more dry, coffee, roasty as it warms. Some hints of a milky lactic aromas, and unfortunately very little dark fruit character. Some currant, but overall, very light! Hints of toasty malt and caramel after it warms also some noticeable alcohol. There is fruitiness, but it’s not dark fruit. Very well balanced for a big beer. Roasty & lightly chocolate, caramel, and moderate fruitiness...again, not dark fruit. Finish is on the semi sweet side with a chocolate and lightly bitter aftertaste from dark grains, not hops. Lighter full body, low carbonation, very smooth, w/ extremely well hidden alcohol. I can see why this is highly rated! It’s a very well made beer. More of an American Russian Imperial, but still well made. I prefer more dark fruit(winey, raisiny) character in my R.I.S. but this is an extremely fine beer.
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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