 Ughsmash (3085), Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA
Mar 7, 2006 From a growler at Goose Island Stoutfest. Poured a very deep brown with a well-retained creamy beige head. Quite sweet aroma with dark berries & other fruits, light chocolate, and anise. Roasty chocolate, coffee, dark fruit, and anise provide an excellent flavor component with nicely placed bitters. Carbonation was a tad low, possibly from the growler treatment. Finish was of mildly bitter and roasy chocolate + berries. Very fine brew!
SubstanceT (1087), Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Feb 1, 2006 Black with a thin off white to tan head. Nose is mostly roasted dark fruit and malts some significant coffee as well. The taste is mostly coffee with a pretty big alcohol kick to it. Overall not that bad and has a strong showing. I would have liked more hops but overall not bad at all.
frankenkitty (1798), Oak Lawn, Illinois, USA
Jan 30, 2006 This stout is black as the day is long, topped with an oily, tan film and served in a snifter. It showed signs of stickiness on the glass when swirled. Smells rich & roasty with dark fruits, raisin, plum & molasses. Syrupy sweetness gagged me at first but as I got used to it, the sweetness clashed well with roast coffee bitters. Syrupy thick in the mouth as well. Thick & potent. Almost absurdly thick. No weakness detected as previous raters have implied, so it sounds like they’ve tweaked their recipe in the year-and-a-half since then. It took me over an hour to sip down my single 10 oz. glass, and I don’t consider myself a lightweight.
On tap at Prairie Rock Brewing Company, Elgin, IL 60173
steview (785), Oceanside, California, USA
Aug 4, 2004 Updated: Aug 5, 2004i took home a growler of this since i was passing by the area. prairie rock is near me. buddies and i have on a couple occasions got wasted and have had a grand old time (always at Elgin; I've only been at the Elgin location). great food at prairie rock. a riverboat casino across the street... anyway. i was surprised as muzzlehatch seems to note. "an imperial stout?" the waitress nodded her head and went to fill my growler with it. "well," i thought, "even though i don’t believe her i won’t be losing my earned money at the boat." so, i gladly walked out and took it home to sample. as always, prairie rock has nothing offensive. everything at the brewery is good, but... if you’ve been spoiled like me you know that this a weak imperial stout. i like it, sure, i really do, but imperial? perhaps a dry stout is more like it. here we go with my real notes: black pour and body. thin tan fizzy head. at first i thought i was pouring a really syrupy cola that had no annoying soda bubbles, rather than that, i sat in front of a bowl glass filled with blackwater, which had no bubbles nor any head left. how is the actual f*cking beer you might say? well, of course it’s good... it’s just mediocre. first it’s sweet and sour then it’s dry and bitter; pleasantly so. the palate is lovely, lightly cremey. the flavor is what’s watery, not the palate. the flavor is good, but for an imperial there should be no note of watery. it needs more. i drank it and enjoyed it, but i’m a critical bastard am i not? overall, it’s good with mostly notes of coffee, sugar, and light fruit as muzzlehatch mentions - perhaps he influenced me a little bit. there’s also a slightly roasted note of chocolate; something slightly roasted and sweet and sour. in any case, go and try this if you can! they also had a raspberry wheat on tap, but i was too stupid to buy it; i should have bought a growler of raspberry wheat to rate as well. alright... this imperial stout is a delicious treat that warms, but i think i was misinformed... imperial? when left to warm for more than awhile the drink becomes reminiscent of old coffee albeit not disturbingly bitter, rather than that it's sweeter -- like chocolate -- with notes of only alcohol and very slight sour fruit. interesting!
muzzlehatch (4424), Burlington, Vermont, USA
Jul 2, 2004 Sample at the Elgin location. "An Imperial Stout"? Yes, the waitress said. In June? She didn’t understand that that was odd (at least in the midwest). I said, "are you sure?" She went and checked, yup, 8%, Imperial, yes yes. OK.
Too bad it’s a really mediocre example. Opaque, lasting dark tan head; nose mostly sweet chocolate, bit of espresso late. Fairly thick and creamy upfront, bitterness late along with sour cherry-wine and more than a hint of alcohol. Booze flavor too much as it warms.
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