Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout

Poured a beautiful black with a well-retained 1/4" caramel head. Roasted chocolate and some caramel provided the bulk of the aroma... along with a little licorice. Nice chocolate and caramel in the flavor, with a bit of coffee on the finish. Hops make their first appearance toward the finish as well... with a nice dose of bitterness. Nice creamy mouthfeel, but not as thick as I’d like from the style.

Thanks to JPDIPSO for this. Pours obsidian with a 1-finger brown head. Aroma of chocoff, oaky roast malt, prunes, licorice, figs. The taste is roasty malty, with some chocoff, oak, anise, bourbon, and brown sugar flavors. Dense, complex palate and finish. This one is wonderful, a tad chewy but yet smooth and well balanced. This one is bigger and bolder than the CW Satin Solstice.

Roasty coffee and chocolate aroma with a bit of metal. Taste is sweet but tinny again with same old impy stout flavors. Some caramel and smoke flavors taste artificial.

You can watch it come out of the bottle as a dark, syrupy brown, but it turns black in the glass, crowned by a creamy chocolate colored head. Stick your nose in the glass and, besides foaming up the tip of your nose, you’ll get a solid whiff of roasted malts, licorice, raisins and prunes, caramel, and coffee. Smooth in the mouth, the scents come alive as rich flavors, the accent being on the roasted caramel malts, the licorice, and now a touch of bitter chocolate. It’s got a mildly bitter, yet sticky sweet malt finish. Sprecher’s shown that an Imperial Stout can deliver big time withouth going over the deep end.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/Places/ShowPlace.asp?PlaceID=20>Foremost Liquors, Oak Forest, IL<font size=-1>

Glad I took the time to rerate this one as the second bottle was much better than the first. Thick, deep brownish black with a creamy brown head. Aroma is a load of roasted malt, coffee, faint chocolate and molasses. Thick and full in the mouth with dark roasted malt, semisweet chocolate, caramel and a licorice-like bittersweet background. Slightly bitter, smoky finish that really smooths out the whole experience. So, after further review, this is an excellent stout.

16oz bottle-thanks to secret santa for this one. pours dark brown with a small fizzy tan head. big DMS/veg note i get at the start with notes of copper penny, roast, and burnt notes. lactic qualities in the flavors with that lingering veg note. I dont know if the veg note is from DMS or just oxidization. Body is a little lite and fizzy. I think this has aged badly since this past winter. lots of milk chocolate notes on the finish. not very good im affraid.

Poured a dark black with some red at the edges and an averaged sized brown head. Aromas of dark fruits, molasses, roasted malts, chocolate, coffee and light coffee. Tastes of the same but on the softer side. Very light alcohol in the taste. Body not as full as I would have expected from an Imperial Stout but still quite drinkable.

Blackish color with some deeper brown tones reaching through the edges, a finger high head of deep cocoa brown thick & dense fluffed foam that fades somewhat fast, lace in small sheets and spots that slowly drip back in. Smell of deep dark cherry and heavy roasted malts and black malts right away with some lighter tones of sweet chocolate and coffee, notes of molasses and alcohol showing as it warms. Taste is a bit more mellow then expecting, more like a very good stout then an Imperial, still nice though. Lightly chewy and dark roasted malts with sweeter hints in the chocolate, everything is captured up front and is over kinda quick, lingering with some nice coffee tones and light bitterness in the finish. Feel is pretty full at first but levels off and becomes almost to easy. Has a good creamyness throughout with a small kick at the midway point and has a milding finish of sweet roastyness and coffee lingering for a short time and some chewyness, which I really liked; good recovery. All in all, not a bad beer, as for mentioned, seems more like a very good stout then a Imperial, but I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt here. Sprecher likes to keep their beers drinkable and within certain reason of intrepretation of the styles they brew. Never too big, always balanced, and always enjoyable. This one is all that. Although, with a bit more complexity and length in body, I think it would be right on the money.