Southern Tier Jah-va

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

Huge thanks to jjpm and gmcc for this one! Must have something to do with initials? Anyways, I was very pumped for this one and, sadly, it fell short of what I wanted. Must have gotten it to hyped in my mind. Pours black with thin head and thin lacing. Very full bodied, incredibly creamy. The 12% is hidden well, but warms you up quickly. Flavor is used coffee grounds and espresso. Just never gets quite coffee enough, and never quite achieves what Bells Java Stout does. Solid offering from Southern Tier though.

Bottle pours a pitch black. Has a tan head that goes away quickly. Smells like a roasted malt coffee brew. Tastes like a very good roasted malt brew with semi sweet chocolate, barley, coffee, and has a little bit of hops on the backside. Very good brew.

Bottle and the next day on tap at Stanton Public. Pitch black with creamy dark tan head. Sweet roasted chocolate/cocoa and brown sugar/caramel malty aroma. Faintest hint of coffee aroma. At room temp, slightly more coffee taste. Hops are difficult to discern. Sugary sweet with a sticky, syrupy, thick body. Ironically, it lacks the coffee bitterness that would have balanced the sweetness and prevented the taste from cloying.

Many thanks to TheRealBastard for sending this beer. Very very dark pour, black with a medium sized brown head. Aroma is kinda strange and a bit misguided; the strongest element is some sort of parsely/spruce, carrots and grass, then the "nose in a bag of coffee beans" aroma comes out along with dark chocolate. Flavor, WOAH. This is one hell of a malt-bomb! Big dark chocolate flavors, mocha, hot chocolate, vanilla, roast, licorice and maple. Very very desserty, could use a raisin note to balance. Sweet finish going down, dark chocolate, bitter mellow roast finish. Thick, incredibly creamy and viscous, the way a big stout texture should be. Carbonation is a bit prickly though. Very good flavor and I love the thickness but the aromas kinda fucked up.

This was a really good beer. Intense coffee flavors makes for a really interesting brew.

[Bottle, thanks Guerde] Pours dark brown with a decent tan head that fades to just a ring quite quickly. Aroma is sweet malt, barley, alcohol that stings the nose, some roasted malt and coffee. The taste is quite sweet up front and big on barley, chocolate, coffee, and alcohol. Fairly thick mouthfeel and quite a long finish of barley and chocolate. A unique imperial that is well done, but a little too sweet for me to go higher with the score.

(bottle) Pours black with a tan head. When cold the aroma is very subtle with some light hops, and just a small amount of roasted malt(barley). Upon warming the aroma becomes fruity with some cherry and just a bit of banana and vanilla, along with alcohol. It really smells like the Big Eddy RIS. The coffee doesn’t really show up until the beer gets rather warm, and even then it’s not that strong of a smell. The taste is really sweet with a lot of dark fruit, chocolate, and a really nice finish of roasted malt and coffee that rounds out to a mild bitterness. The chocolate becomes even stronger when the beer is warmer. The alcohol shows up right after the dark fruit and chocolate tastes, but it’s never intrusive. Mouthfeel is full, chewy, and quite smooth.

Bottle: pours dark black, with a frothy tan head, aroma of coffee (obviously) but not as strong of an aroma as I was expecting, some dark chocolate and toasted malt aroma as well, taste of coffee, chocolate and malt, thick mouthfeel, slight dry finish and very smooth. Damn good!