Scotch Irish Tsarina Katarina Imperial Stout

(Review taken from notes, July 2008) Aroma of roasted malt, grains, dark chocolate and coffee. This is a dark, viscous stout with a thick tan head that invites you to take a drink. Easy to drink with tastes of tobacco, ripe fruit (especially plums) and a roasty finish. The flavour seemed to be on the milder end for the style — almost like a porter — which is perhaps why I liked it more than I usually like imperial stouts.

Bottle. Body-oily, thick, opaque, sticky looking-looks like a glass of high API gravity crude. Nose-oxidation, grape, dried meat, light smoke, boucherie, chewing tobacco. Very meaty, succulent nose. Taste-lots of vinegar, oxidation, dry, more vinegar, unsweet grape, just a hint of coffee, Dr. Pepper. This at one time was probably a damn fine beer, but because time is a bitch, it is no longer that beer. Way over the hill, oxidation, wet cardboard. Like Marsellus Wallace said-”You see, this profession is filled to the brim with unrealistic motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who thought their ass would age like wine. If you mean it turns to vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with age, it don’t.”

This poured black in color with a moderate brown head that dissipated quickly. The aromas were of chocolate, coffee, dark fruits and mineral. In the mouth it is medium-bodied with lots of carbonation. The mineral from the nose really shows up in the mouth almost dominating the other flavors completely.

Finally I scavanged a bottle from a trade; this sample has been properly racked for 3 years: Poured jet black with a creamy mocha colored cap that lasts and laces well. Roch chocolate and wet hay aroma. Thick silky mouth feel. Flavour is decadent dark roasted cocoa and figs with a wonderful pervasive resinous hop bittering in the back. Long rich wet finish with lingering cocoa after tastes. BLOODY MARVELOUS STUFF!

2005 bottle, Beer Bistro. Tar black, small tan head. Looks oily. Wonderfully yielding smokey nose with no hint of alcohol. Simple smoothness. Buried inside are blackberries, figs, black cherries, and a touch of vanilla bean. Perfectly silken palate. No edges whatsoever. Just a whisper of carbonation left to carry the palate forward. Unbelievably, sinfully smooth. Rounds to a roasty but unburnt latte-like finish after passing through a dark chocolate stage and its oaty beginning. Ashamed to have not drank one more.

Courtesy Secret Santa. Black pour with a thin dark tan head. Mild powdered cocoa aroma, light roast, mild molasses, alcohol. Smooth taste, chocolate first, then roast, moderate alcohol. Nice, but not as rich as the top tier imperial stouts.

With chocolate cheesecake at Beer Bistro, Toronto, October 2007; retired bottle from 05. Has similarities to their Black Irish Porter, especially in its surprising wateriness. Still this one is much, much better, especially the complex aroma of dried fruit (prune, raisin). Wonderful coffee and fruit flavour.

Black w/ frothy ring of brown foam. Aroma of burnt(-in-a-good-way) coffee, dark chocolate, & earthy, herbal hops w/ notes of dried fruit. Thick, chewy, creamy feel. Rich, complex flavour of roasted malts w/ some nicely bitter, earthy hops in the finish.