Southern Tier Jah-va

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Lakewood, New York USA

Bottle from funknmilla. great great beer. pours black with a nice tan head. Aromas is(shocker)coffee and chocolate, nice dark chocolate. Flavor is perfectly balanced between chocolate, coffee, and some nice hop on the end. I loved this beer.

Bomber courtesy of GMCC2181. Pours a deep space black with 2 finger tan head. Nose is coffee (duh), dark chocolate and ash. Taste is heavy coffee and dark chocolate with a bitter hop finish. Full chewy creamy mouth feel. Tastes like Starbucks bold coffee of the day with a shot of chocolate, and daddy likes him some strong Starbucks Joe. Thanks D O Double Gizzle G-Dawg!

2005 versus 2008... go! Appearance: The older brew has an oily, inky black body with a brief, tan-colored head. The new brew comes up lighter with a dark brown, reddish-hinted appearance and a thin, off-white head. Smell: The vintage Jah-va displays a rich, dark maltiness smelling of semi-sweet chocolate and roastiness, much like a bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans. The current rendition, however, well, there is a dark malt presence along with embarassingly minor hints of chocolate and roast, but that’s about it. This is a disturbing trend we have here, it’s like the entire heart of the recipe was woefully watered down between 2005 and today. Pity. Taste: Wonderfully roasty and sumptuously sweet, like a dessert featuring coffee and chocolate. A few drops of cherry liqueur. There’s a very light hint of roasty bitterness and a touch of alochol. Sugar dosed coffee lingers beyond the finish. That was the ’05, let’s see what the ’08 can come up with. Some dark maltiness, but only a light taste of chocolate, and almost no coffee. Again, some light bitterness and alcohol. Taste of burnt grains on the bittersweet finish. Yeesh. Mouthfeel: The 2005 has a rich, medium-full body and medium-low carbonation, it’s up-to-date counterpart, again, comes up a bit lacking with a lighter body. Drinkability: The antique Southern Tier Jah-va was very, very good. The newer rendition came up far, far short, and I don’t see any amount of time metamorphosing it into something better. For the review, I’ll average out the two scores. So, I recommend getting your hands on an older bottle or not at all.

draft @ mugs alehouse. I’ve passed this one up many times because I just don’t like the label, but I wanted something dark and heavy after bombing out at the less-impressive local joints. This is proof that a great beer can come in a cheesey label! Black brown, no head. Big nose of roasted malts and chocolate. Taste to match with a light touch of coffee. Long finish of roasted stout goodness. The alcohol is very well disguised - i had no idea I guessed a solid 8% - yeah, it’s that good. Heavy, dense body that seemed to sink very quickly despite my lady-like sips =p Getting a second round was a no brainer. Get some friends!

22oz bottle. A black pour with a medium sized tan head. Bursting with chocolate and coffee aromas with some toasted malt. The 12% is hidden quite well, full bodied, highly recommended!

Pours thick black, small brown head. Strong flavor hits you, then a bitter finish. Definitely a complex stout, and while the flavor wasn’t totally my bag, it’s an interesting and worthy stout.

Very much enjoyed this. Tremendous aroma of coffee and some cocoa. Pours jet black with a small, but lingering dark tan head. Lots of malt and feels heavy, almost oily. The coffee really smooths this out, without it become a coffee drink. It is still very much an imperial stout..

500ml. Pitch black color with a very minimal head. Delicate and enticing chocolaty sweet aroma. The big 12% alcohol seems to take away from some of the coffee subtleties. This is quite an excellent beer, one of the stronger enjoyable Imperial Stouts. Has a great mouthfeel to it. Well done. Had to bring it down a few points by the end of the bottle...alcohol level ends up being a tad excessive.