Stone Imperial Russian Stout

Originally reviewed 3/31/2008... Pours molasses and espresso brown with root beer barrel candy-colored head; tight and bready. Balanced and mellow scent has it all - bready yeast, extra-dark roasted maly and slightly bitter hop backbone (earthy and grassy). Just realized that my cold is precluing me from smelling anything mortal so this must be good - may update later. The balance and mellowness is both surprising and overwhelming. Not too much of anything but enough of everything. Dark espresso with a little licoricle and cinnamon sugar. Some earth, slate, grassy hops and gobs of malt. Slithers down the throat nicely - with no aftertaste. Thick but clear. Beautifully done. Extremely enjoyable.

Smells of alcohol, molasses, burnt chocolaty malts, heading towards BBQ sauciness but not too much like World Wide Stout. This is thick and skirting that limit of saturation of the palate. An intense Malt experience with Chocolate, Coffee, BBQ sauce, Burnt Sugars underneath. Alcohol is more apparent in the aroma. Great stuff, you start slow and then find its gone before you know it. Met high expectations.

I might not quite slap my mama, but this beer is lovely. Dark, nice head with great lacing. Smells like a heavenly mixture of caramel, alcohol, chocolate. Tastes even better. Palate is dark and velvety. Don’t pass this up if you ever have the chance.

Bottled. Nice dark color with a dark brown creamy head. Smells and taste of dark chocolate on the nose. Roasted coffee is also in the taste. Very malty, may be to much so. Still a very nice beer.

Bottle pours a light-consuming black with a one-finger cap of light tan head that lasts quite a while inside an English pint. Lacing follows the beer very nicely. Nose of roasted almonds and raisin. Tastes of raisins, licorice, and alcohol atop the malty base, but just a bit too much like semi-sweet chocolate for my taste (otherwise it would be around 4.5). Despite the alcohol and heavy dark chocolate up front, the finish is silky smooth, as others have noted.

Black witn burgundy hue. No head. Tastes of chocolate with coffe. Smooth, thick and high powered. Alcohol becomes apparent as beer warms. Very good imperial stout.

Let me start off by saying I don’t typically like stouts. I’m a double IPA sorta guy, and the whole coffee things isn’t what I typically like. The pour is straight up black, looks like motor oil and has no head at all. Very little carbonation and no lacing. The taste is full of alcohol and dark bitter chocolate with just a touch of sweetness. The bitterness really balances things out for me, it reminds me of the bitterness of a good IPA mixed with a ton of dark chocolate. I really (surprisingly) enjoyed this.