Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout

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

11/15/2007: Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout looks black and opaque and has a dense and lasting brown head. Chocolate, roasted malt, and a hint of smoke are contained within the aroma. The flavor has roasted malt, chocolate, caramelized sugar, and a nice meaty smokiness. This full-bodied beer feels soft on the palate and is super smooth.

16 fl. oz. bottle (7.9% Alc. by Vol. / 17778 FL 070320954). Rating #255 for this beer.

Big, black color. Huge, towering, cocoa-hued head. Aroma: soft, but showing hints of coffee and chocolate, sweet and yummy. Lush mouthfeel, but short finish. Rather abrupt, actually. Body is not as full or as deep as I’d like in an imperial stout, but these words were captured during my notations on this botttle: "Warm, rich, chocolatey, toasty, bits of licorice...yum...suh-weet.." I love Imperial Stouts, and I liked this one, a fairly middle-of-the-road effort, not bad.

20070216 Bottle with unintelligible date. Bland, un-bitter impy stout. Cinnamon notes, saccharine, dry. Bit bland and flat bodied. Fruity, oxidized (cardboard) finish. Meh.

No nose, but very nice black color. Tasted like water with a little smoke. I think I’ll stick to their bourbon barrel offerings.

Courtesy of Goldtwins <P> Strong aroma of raisin, dates, dark chocolate and cocoa. Deep black with a quickly receding mocha head. Fore is full of sweet stewed raisins, cramel malts, heavily sweetened and creamed coffee, lots of nutty notes and more dark fruits in the finish. More baltic porter/schwarzbier tasting than Imperial Stout, but very tasty.

Dark beer with a big foamy brown head. Nose of roasted Cocao Puffs cereal. Flavor is initially dominated by the burnt, roast grains. Ash, molassess, licorice, chocolate and sweetened coffee are also in there. The coffee bitterness lingers the longest in the finish. The alcohol is well integrated. Gets more burnt as it warms.

Extremely fruity aroma boasting grapes, pronounced vinous notes, perfumey hops, alcohol, and underlying coffee. Watery palate. Flavors of oxidation, dried plums, fruity hops, and bitter chocolate. All in all, too roasty, overly carbonated and not enough charred malt character to keep me satisfied. Only moderately complex. They should be ashamed in terming this an Imperial stout. Even with its vinous notes it still struggles to be a Baltic Porter. Being that this is past its prime after being bottled only 5 months ago, I deduct overall points for this not aging well.

Well this is certainly not in the world class impy stout grouping I’ve been having recently ~ so it goes. Pours very dark, almost black, with a thick soapy head. The aroma has dark berries, cream, roasted malt and milk chocolate. Medium / full body that is milky and had light soft carbonation. The flavor starts off milky and watery with some mostly hidden roasted malt and cream. The finish has some spicy hops and coffee bitterness. This is not great by any stretch, but still better than I expected.