Real Ale 15th Anniversary (XV)

Brewed by Real Ale Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Blanco, Texas USA

Serve in Snifter

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Wow a powerful Russian imperial stout, great aroma, great palate, and 9.8% ! What more can you ask for! ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

I didn’t really intend to rate this yet. I had put it in the cooler mostly by accident, then later, after dark, I reached in and grabbed it, thinking it was one of the Terrapin Rye Pales I had put in for sessioning. So imagine my surprise when I put this to my lips... So, I go ahead and grab my pen and notebook. But, you see, the problem is that I was a bit...tipsy. And my handwriting isn’t that great to begin with. And it was dark. So, I was able to glean the word "chocolate", "vanilla", "bourbon" and "good". So here we are.... (thanks to rougeau13 for the trade!)

Bottle courtesy of crajun from the Local Beer Swap Threeve. Thanks Kevin. Pours a deep black with a thin to medium sized dense tan head. Big sweet roast, a touch of cocoa, chocolate, and a hint of dark fruit. Medium to thick bodied, roast, chocolate, lots of warm cocoa and a touch of booze. Chocolate, cocoa, long roast. Very nice body, lovely mouthfeel, cocoa and sweet roast. Well done. Faint hints of warming alcohol on the finish.

12 oz bottle courtesy of Secret Santa. Pours almost black. No light passes through, even when held up to the sun. Thick, mocha colored head with a bit of lace. Aroma is simultanously sweet and bitter with hints of chocolate & molasses balanced with bitter licorce and coffee. a little hop bitterness on the tongue with roasted malt. Has an earthiness to it. Heavy, thick palate with a bitter finish.

12oz bottle-shared by mcox90-pours black with a light brown head and trailing lace. Aroma is sweet roasty dark malt-molasses, dark fruit. Taste is sweet roasty dark malt-molasses, earthy hop bite.

Poured from 12oz bottle. Pours black with a fair amount of tan head. Aroma is roasted malt and molasses. Taste follows with lots of molasses and a bit of bitterness in the back end.

Poured from bottle. Poured black with a pretty tan head. Smells of sweet coffee and malt. The taste starts out as dark, dry malt, and then the hops settle in slowly. It is actually pretty interesting how the flavor unfolds. The dark dry stout flavor just melts into a slight hop flavor and finishes dry and a little boozy. The palate is just like all good stouts, so good palate. Overall, I am glad I bought a four pack. I will age some and see what else this beer can produce.

Pours dark chocolate brown, definitely not completely black, with a small tan head that lingers as a thick collar. Aroma is sweet with molasses and licorice on top of the roasted malt backbone. There are coffee hints and still some hops hanging on after the months in the bottle. Taste is hoppy up front with lots of heavily roasted malts and chocolate. There is licorice and coffee before a bitter roasty finish. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with more carbonation than I was expecting. Comes across a little watery vs. most in the style. This is a heavily roasted and hoppy impy stout and a pretty tasty one at that.

Black pour with a khaki head that fades to a ring. Aroma is molasses, licorice, a hint of coffee, and a little alcohol. Taste starts with molasses and licorice then goes to chocolate, coffee, ash, and bitterness in the finish. Very good.

12 oz bottle from Crajun. Thanks. Pours an opaque black color with a small tan head. The aroma is molasses, anise, dates, raisins and a trace of coffee. The taste is roasted grains, with black licorice, molasses, dark fruits and burnt toast. The palate is full, viscous and creamy with soft carbonation. The finish is long and dry. Overall: simply outstanding brewski.