Saranac Imperial Stout

Poured an opaque black color with a large, tan head that left nice lacing on the glass. Aroma of roasted malts, chocolate, dark cherries, vanilla, and light smoke. Taste of more roasted malts, cocoa, vanilla beans, anise, smoke, light dried fruits, lactose, and a bit of alcohol. Creamy mouthfeel.

On tap at Capones. Pours a deep black with amber notes and a medium creamy/bubbly tan head that laced. Aroma of roasted malt, some chocolate, coffee and even some hop notes. Flavor is actually a bunch of toffee, roasted malt, milk chocolate, vanilla and coffee. Kind of has a creamy mouthfeel almost like a thin milkshake.

Pours dark, dark brown with a late emerging head which spilled all over my counter, nice lacing. Wonderful aroma of chocolate, coffee and roast. A bit thin on the tongue, but not a bad effort. Chocolate, coffee and some burned notes, a bit astingent and bitter, but some sweetness to balance. More than I would have expected from Saranac. Good show!

Pours brownish/black with thick tan head. Aroma of chocolate and roasted malts. Taste of roasted malt, chocolate, and nice bite of hops. Noticeable sweetness to it not present in many Imp stouts. Thin mouthfeel for the style. Very easy drinking. By far the best Saranac beer I’ve tasted to date.

Dark brown, small tan head, vanishes, moderate lacing. Nose of chocolate and coffee. Taste of chocolate and coffee, burnt malts, some residual sourness, and some hops. Nice enough, drinkable beer, disappointment as an imperial stout, only because there are such wonderful alternatives available. My benchmarks continue to be Victory Storm King and Bells Expedition, and this does not compare.

Poured black with a medium-sized dark tan head. Aromas of chocolate malts, but also sweetness. Taste was very chocolaty but also very sweet. I was expecting it to be much more bitter. Not as strong as other imperial stouts, but still very drinkable.

At the BBB63 comes to Tampa gathering, thanks to our host Joe for the offering:

Opaque with a small head and some lace. The aroma has notes of roased and charred malts, prune, coffee, and some chocolate vapours. The taste is twangy and mocha driven with an fruity and rye bread background, some earthy and dirty character notes as well. The mouth feel is sprite and too thin, warming surprisingly. Not very good for the genre, blah.

(bottle - 12 oz) Dark black pour with a thick and lasting brown head. Aroma is surprisingly light and roasty with some good chocolate and coffee notes. Some alcohol, but not much. Flavor is strong and heavy with a lot of roasted malts, dark fruits, alcohol, and coffee. A light hop touch. Finishes very clean and leaves a slight hoppy and dark aftertaste.