4.8 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 19/2022oz bottle shared with family on Christmas eve. What a decadent beer. Pour generously into my snifter, thick like used motor oil. I gave it a hell of a pour resulting in a nice 3 finger dark brown head, solid. Lingered and left some nice lacing. Super aromatic, wonderful cocoa and roasted coffee, dark currant flavor and a little licorice. Taste is perfectly balanced, sweet robust chocolate malts, anise notes and dark fruits, raisins and currants. Deep coffee and roasty malty flavors ease in as the nice citrus hop and molasses finish up. Nice aftertaste of sweet fruits and caramel, I could drink this all fucking day. What a beautiful stout. Mouthfeel is perfect for what it is, thick and syrupy, chewy, little carbonation livens up the heavy palate. This is an incredible stout I would love to try the bourbon treated version. If you like this I would highly reccomend Ten Tidy by Oskar blues. Excellent job stone.
4.5 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20
Coffee, caramel, chocolate notes. Dark as used motor oil. Tan head that dissolves into a small rim around the top. Good lacing. Not too boozy.
4.4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 17/20
I was expecting it to taste a bit chocolatey or even like a coffee by its sheer dark appearance. But no it has a bit of a deep wine sensibility. It has a bit of a kick in its wash down. This brew you have to sit down to appreciate. Definitely a brew to discuss over.
4.5 AROMA 9/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 18/20
I received a 12oz bottle of a 2008 vintage in a trade with "Ding" (thanks, man!). It actually had an "enjoy by" date of 1/1/2013. I poured it into a tulip glass.
Appearance: Completely opaque black of the deepest shades. Forms a small, brown, foamy head which mostly dissipates but not completely and leaves minor lacing on the glass.
Smell: An interesting combination of red grape, orange citrus and chocolate syrup.
Taste: If you know me you’d probably assume I drink "Stone IRS" every year, but I actually haven’t had this beer in quite a few years. I was definitely excited to try a 5-year-old vintage of it since I do remember it being quite an intense beer when it was fresh. The aging has definitely helped to take the edge off, though the flavors seem a tad muted as well. It’s a small price to pay because the net result is still a complex and delicious beer.
A delicious blend of chocolate, black licorice, red grape, some orange fruit and just enough bitterness to balance it out. I do remember a fresh vintage having a slightly sour/tart note, which is barely recognizable this time around. Chocolate syrup is still quite prominent, as is some black licorice or root beer flavors but without any spiciness. There’s some black cherry through the middle along with slightly dank hoppiness coupled with some orange flavor. A beer this beer needs plenty of hops to balance it out and after five years they’ve faded a bit as it’s not exactly a bitter bomb, but still retains enough hop character to maintain the balance as the sweetness never becomes cloying. The alcohol has faded to the background well, though it’s still noticeable and does tie all the flavors together. This is definitely one of the best examples of the style I’ve ever had.
Drinkability: After five years in the cellar, Stone Imperial Russian Stout has mellowed wonderfully. The mouthfeel is soft, smooth and slightly slick but not oily. It goes down remarkably easy and is only slightly dry in the aftertaste. The 10.8% ABV weight is quite efficient as the beer is still overtly strong, but its actual boozy character has mellowed and is easily tolerable. I highly recommend cellaring a bottle since the results are this good.
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Smell is a little boozy with roasty chocolate/coffee flavors. Taste is a little on the sweeter side. Mouthfeel is very smooth. Very good flavors, time in the bottle (1 year+) should do this beer very well.
3.4 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 13/20
Sweet, roasty, malty, boozy aroma. Pours opaque brown almost black with a thick lasting dark tan head. Smooth, roasted cocoa, dry slightly bitter finish. Hints of toffee sweetness.
3.8 AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 9/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 9/20
Aroma of dark roasted malts, nuts, chocolate, and brownies. ( Yum!)? Pours an ink black with a quickly dissipating tan head and no lacing. The taste is complex and wonderfully bitter! Dark roasted malts, and bitter coffee grounds, dark chocolate, and hints of fruit. Full body with medium carbonation. Overall, this is an excellant bitter imperial stout. Would buy again.
3.6 AROMA 6/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 7/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 15/20
I feel like i should have waited a few more months before i had this, still a very young Imperial stout as it was brewed this year. Although it was still very enjoyable stout, with big coffee flavours and well hidden alcohol. Definitely need to let this one warm up a little!
4 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 16/20
Pours dark black with a nice brown head. Taste is roasted malts, coffee, dark red fruit and anis. Too much fruit but still very nice.
4.1 AROMA 8/10 APPEARANCE 4/5 TASTE 8/10 PALATE 4/5 OVERALL 17/20
Bottle from capitol beer. Pours black with Brown head. Taste is lots of toasted malt and coffee. Great stout
5 AROMA 10/10 APPEARANCE 5/5 TASTE 10/10 PALATE 5/5 OVERALL 20/20
Pours black with a brown head. Coffee, chocolate, molasses, some sweetness but well balanced with bitterness, alcohol but still drinkable. This is one of my favorite imperial stouts.
---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone
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