MrManning (1458), London, Ontario, Canada Jan 6, 2008 Updated: Feb 1, 2008LCBO sample- Pours jet black, topped with a thick mocha froth. The head is foamy and long lived. Excellent coffee and roasty aromas, dark chocolate as well as a touch of dark fruit. Very bitter, lots of cocoa, dark chocolate, black coffee, roasted malts, and the perfect amount of bittering hops. A touch of currant in the finish. Not as big and bold as some of the crazy impys out there, but I guess that makes this one a little more approachable. Well done. JesseM (424), Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada Dec 21, 2007 Updated: Aug 27, 2008So when I found out that this one was finally available in the KW area, I immediately panicked, ran out the door, and came back with three bottles. Pours an amazing dark brown, not quite black, very thick and viscous, with extremely little brown head. Looks amazing in my snifter. Aroma: Powerful! Dark chocolate, cocoa, anise, some black licorice, sweet molasses (which I love), all covered up by some great hops. Flavour: Wow, this one is rich! It’s like, chocolate milk (the darkest, richest chocolate milk you’ve ever had), lightly carbonated, with some delicious hop flavours, cocoa powder, hint of smokiness and a loooooong lingering roasty bitter finish. I can’t tell exactly what the ABV is, somewhere between 6.7 and 10 seems pretty vague, but about right. Either way it’s evident but incorporated well enough into the various delicious flavours. This stuff is great. The mouth-feel is of course nice and thick. I have a lot of family in Ottawa and might live there eventually, so the neat historical tribute of this beer only adds to it’s over-all impressiveness to me. This is my first Imperial Stout ever, and I think this was a great starting point. I love this beer. matt7215 (628), Cambridge, Ontario, Canada Dec 22, 2007 Updated: Feb 15, 2008341 ml bottle. holy crap this is a good beer. pours black with a medium sized dark brown head. aromas are coffee, chocolate and hops. as this beer warms the aromas gain complexity to the point at which i would content just sitting and smelling this beer for hours. flavours are big dark chocolate followed by some coffee and hop bitterness. the mouthfeel is worderful and leaves nothing to be desired. at this point this beer is very young and is already showing signs of being a world class imperial stout. a few years of proper cellering could make this a ratebeer top 50. this is the finest ontario stout on the market and the best ontario brewed beer ive had so far. im very happy to see a beer like this come into this market and ill be buying up any quantity that i can. cheers to heritage brewing!! daknole (1131), Plantation, Florida, USA May 11, 2008 Bottle thanks to robinvboyer. And a big thanks...this is a really great imp stout. Nice dark black pour with a decent sized head. Aromas are raisins, chocolate, sweet coffee, malt, and candy sugar. Flavors are sweet, balanced and really nice. I taste some super sweet raisins, sweet malt, and the alchohol is not even noticeable on the tongue. GregClow (2369), Toronto, Ontario, Canada Jan 7, 2008 Bottle from the LCBO. Very, very dark brown with a large mocha head. Luscious aroma of dark, sweet roasted malt, strong coffee, dark chocolate, molasses - just fantastic. Full, rich mouthfeel. Flavour starts with bitter coffee, developing sweet malt notes in the middle, and a long bittersweet chocolate finish. As Slacks notes below, this beer pairs just perfectly with good quality dark chocolate. A fantastic beer all around.
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