Stone Imperial Russian Stout

2008 bottle:
Pours black with mid sized head. Roasted malt and sweet liquorice on the nose. Thick and smooth mouth-feel. Flavour is really complex: there’s coffee, dark chocolate,vanilla, roasted malt and liquorice leading down to a alcohol bitter, warming finish.

Update: Two years and this beer seams to peak. It’s smoother, thinner, and sweeter. The alcohol taste mellows too. Exercise patience and it will be rewarded. 22oz bottle of the 2006 release. Smells like molasses, dried smokey fruit, roasty malt, and alcohol. Pours black with a small dark tan head that dissipates quickly. The taste is very rich, sweet, slightly bitter, nutty, and almost a smokey coffee aftertaste. Fairly thick mouth feel, and left with an oil slick finish. This is a complex wonderful beer that ages very well. I like the 06 better than the 07 but that might just be because of the extra year to age.

Flavor throughout, strong taste, great coffee and chocolate throughout.. fun beer.. bitterness comes at the end more so..great beer

Bottle from Sam’s. Black pour with light tan, somewhat smallish big-bubbly head. Potent brew, for sure. Aromas of dark chocolate, roast, and nuts. Some soy/anise, but I didn’t catch any subtlety. Boozy and big, but harsh to my palate. Certainly not bad, but it really didn’t do much for me at all. Disappointment.

: ) Happy I tried it. Opaque, murky blackness with a quickly receding brown head. Aroma of coffee beans, dark chocolate and booze. Tasty like a chocolate booze cupcake.

From bottle. Pours to a deep, solid black with a tan creamy (significant) head. On the palate it’s impressively nutty and malty. Lots of roasted flavor up front, then a good deal of deep, brown-sugary sweetness on the back end. Certainly a good deal of mocha-ish flavor going on as well. I like this and it’s a solid beer for sure, albeit not terribly innovative. For a widely accessible, top-notch stout, this is a good bet for sure.

2008 offering Aroma- Oaky esters and dark dried fruit. A faint hop aroma. Alcohol aroma is present. Appearance- Black and murky with very little head. Flavor- Chocolate, burnt wood, oaky esters are present. Pine hop flavor with strong bitterness at the end. No sourness. Not a huge alcohol taste. Malt and hops are both strong, yet both are strong without achieving too much balance. Palate- High carbonation, heavy body. Bitterness makes the back of my mouth feel dry. Overall Impression- It is chewy, but drinkable. I think the esters make this beer.

The look and feel are, in my opinion, as grand as it gets. Aroma and Flavor are great, drawing on roast, coffee, and slight chocolate hughs. A FINE beer.