Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

16oz bottle. Pours a deep black with a thin but firm coffee-colored head. Aroma is rich and malty, dominated by chocolate, coffee, caramel, roasted malt, and wood. Taste is creamy and fairly full, with an opening of caramel, wood, and roasted malt giving way to a finish of sweet chocolate and coffee-like bitterness. A perfectly good imperial stout, if somewhat lacking in the complexity of its bigger brothers.

Pours a deep coffee color with small tan head. Dark chocolate and chicory pervade the aroma and flavor with smokey notes throughout. Finish is of chocolate malt with a lingering bitterness. A respectable imp. stout.

Bottle into shaker; purchased at Discount in Milwaukee. Caramel malt smell, with very strong and distinct port aroma; much fruitier on the smell than expected, and the malts seem fantastic, although there’s the indication of some diacetyl. Pours with a largish head that mostly dissipates. Fizzy feel, not much of a body, this disappoints on the flavor; the malts are hidden under the carbonation, there’s just the echo of the porty prune that I smelled and there are lots of residual sugars. The finish is bitter and burnt, and without the malts in the middle to make it a counterpoint, it seems acrid and undesirable.

Bottle. Pours a very dark brown, almost black, with an average size diminishing foamy tan head. Aroma of milk chocolate followed by coffee, roasted malt, mild green hops, molasses and a bit of alcohol. Flavour’s milk chocolate and coffee along with dark roasted malt, molasses and mild green hops -- starts sweet and finishes roasty. Syrupy mouthfeel, medium bodied. It’s a touch sweet for me, but that’s a preference, either way it’s quite good and I enjoyed it.

1L blue cobalt bottle. poured extremely dark with a dark brown head. Smells of dark fruit and roasted malt. Kind of thin on the flavor, has some coffee and chocolate flavors. An alright brew.

12oz bottle from Pristine Liquors (Spring Hill, FL). Pours the color and consistency of filthy motor oil: dark, black and thick. Thin dark brown head. Some lacing. Aroma is roasted malt, chocolate, vanilla, some coffee notes. Flavor is about the same with stronger coffee notes, sweet and smoky malt, chocolate, toffee. Full body with a lingering coffee finish.

Pours oily black, evil looking, with little to no head. Deep roasted aromas are first noticed, with a burnt fruit and lightly toasted marshmallow vanilla scent, touched with espresso and chocolate. A tooth coating brew, which features the full spectrum of impy greatness, moving from burnt almond yeilding sweetness to a lingering and dusty hoppy bittering and lingering finish. Good qualities all around and it came together alright, but a little jumbled in the flavor department. If had come together a little more elegantly this one could have gone to the next level, as it is a pretty solid brewski for sure. I think this beer performed better than my rating would indicate.

Black as pitch with big head. Nose is slightly smoky but mostly toffee and coffee. Rounded, smooth flavors. Delicious even if nothing especially memorable.