Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout

Brewed by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Chico, California USA

Serve in Snifter

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Bottle pours jet black with minimal tan head with little retention. Nose is of grain and roasted coffee. Taste follows this trend with addition of pine and citrus. Bitterness pulls through on finish. Body is solid albeit perhaps a tad thin and not as silken as expected.

12oz bottle shared by Mike
Appearance: Dark brown with a small tan head and good lacing
Aroma: Roasted malts and dark coffee
Taste: Roasted malts, dark coffee, grainy and dark chocolate
Very nice

Bottle from North Bar, Leeds. Pours a pitch black, very small head (from a very nicely labelled bottle!). Aroma is great - chocolate, roasted malts, coffee, hops. Taste is similar - nicely smooth, with coffee, roasted make and chocolate flavours. Pretty bitter, no conspicuous sweetness, even though there is a nice balance. Medium-full bodied, low carbonation, long bitter fo ish. Good one!

Date: October 29, 2012
Mode: Bottle
Source: Sprayberry Bottle Shop
Appearance: black, frothy tan head, icy lace
Aroma: rich roasted aroma, hoppy
Flavor: rich roasted flavor, dark chocolate bitterness, plenty of hops, caramel sweetness emerges upon warming to bring out a chocolate character, long bitter roasty finish

Date: November 09, 2012
Mode: draft
Source: Brick Store Pub
Appearance: just as rich and roasty on draft as in the bottle
Body: creamier body
Flavor: stellar

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: *** /4

A steady pour into my Bruery tulip produces a dense, creamy, three finger thick, rich brown stained tan colored head. The beer is a dark, concentrated black color that is quite opaque. The aroma is fruity, hoppy, roasted, and concentrated dark malt. Burnt molasses notes, burnt plum notes, concentrated brown sugar, interesting, slightly tannic, tobacco notes, and, as you really take a deep draught of the nose, firm, roasted coffee notes, and toasted / blackened whole grain. There is quite a bit of hop character here, in addition to the ample citrus notes, lots of pine, woody notes, and even some floral, almost tropical fruit like notes.

Rich, somewhat viscous, but still fairly light for an Imperial stout, the beer is amply hoppy with a huge bitterness, lots of burnt citrus character, and lots of woody, pine, and even some spruce tip like flavors. Lots of roasted character provides notes of burnt plums, coffee liquor, and lots of drying, firm, lingeringly burnt, roast malt character. Somewhat evocative of woody notes, a definite firm, almost astringent character from the roast malt and hop interaction. Roasted molasses, chalk, coffee husks, and lots of burnt fruit character add some subtle, underlying complexity here.

This beer could certainly age quite well, I like the vibrant hop character right now, but this should mellow out, and the roast should smooth out quite well with age, including nullifying the effects of oxidation. Much more hoppy than I was expecting from the description, but the first time I had heard of this beer I was expecting a black / roast version of Bigfoot, and this does form a reasonable facsimile of that. In the end this is quite “niced”, it fits the spot of my imagined gap in the Sierra Nevada lineup. This is definitely a beer I will be buying a couple of every year (a fairly rare even).

UPDATED: FEB 7, 2013 Nice dark pour, not much aroma. taste is dark roast with booze. Pretty good stout.

Black. Very enjoyable. Roasted stout like flavor. A strong alcohol taste and after taste- a little over powering for me, hides the chocolate flavor.Very enjoyable.

On tap @ Buster’s on 28th. Dark brown with light brown head. Aroma was a bit weak - roasted, chocolate, a little coffee. Taste is sweet for just a second until the bitterness takes over and continues through the aftertaste. Palate is thick and smooth, but carbonated enough to give it a bit of a soda feel.

Bottle from central market. Pours a very dark brown with a touch of black coloring With a touch of black. Aroma is a bit roasted with some nice easy nuts. Flavor is nice but has a bit of chocolatey overtones mixed with some roastyness that finishes all the way through to the end.

Bottle from Cavie. Dark pour with a light brown head. Aroma is chocolate, vanilla, and roast. Taste is heavily roasted, vanilla, a little coffee, and a big bitter finish.