Stoudts Fat Dog Stout (Vintages 2004 and later)

Brewed by Stoudts Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Adamstown, Pennsylvania USA

Pour from the 12oz. bottle into a pint glass: Roasted barley, sweet caramel malts, dark fruit, grapefruit rind, toffee hard candy, dry chocolate. Smooth finish. Overall a good stout and that’s expected from Stoudts, however I’m not infatuated by it. Could be better. Drinkability: Great drinkability, but just doesn’t compare to other microbrews. Rebuy: Yeah. #126 on 19092009, DG.

12 oz bottle courtesy of an extra from msante79. Thanks, Mark! Pours a pretty dark hazy amber, a decent tannish head on top that dies to a film, laces some. Aromas are a decent aromatic hoppiness, citrus and florals, a bit muted, with some underlying caramel malts. Lemon rind and grapefruit, the malt is tamer than anticipated. Initial is lighter, a bit watery with some decent lemon citrusy hop and a light caramel maltiness, vaguely toasty, a watery type body. Backend moves to a bit of blandness, lightly hoppy bitter and sweet and toasy malt on the backend. Ok, finish is a bit bland but certainly quaffable. Ok overall.

Draught at MacGregors in Henrietta. Pitch black with a fabulous tan head: thin, ultra-fine, smooth. Fruity aroma with chocolate and coffee. Sweet, creamy, and smooth, with chocoalte and coffee; not at all assaulting on the palatte. Very higly drinkable, though a bit too sweet. Very sessionable for such a strong beer. Great balance.

Pours dark with a nice frothy head. There is a rich sweet, roasted malty smell. The flavor is delicious with a sweet flavor that hits the palate at the end. There are undertones of booziness through the rich, malty flavor.

bottle, pours black, tall tan head. Dark fruit and roasted malt aroma. Nutty malt, sweet coffee, and yeasty flavors. Nice and mildly sweet. I like it.

Huh - I’m sort of surprised to this rated so highly. It wasn’t bad by any means, but it also didn’t strike me as being a particularly special beer. I had this shortly after a Troegs Rugged Trail Brown Ale, and didn’t find this Imperial Stout to be altogether more roasty or have that much more body than the brown ale, which sort of surprised and disappointed me. Imperial stout is sort of a superlative style - more malty, roasty and higher ABV than other styles, and while this beer was pleasant enough, it was hardly superlative. A little light in color for a RIS, with a medium amount of head. Aroma was roasty, but pretty faint for the style. Flavor was as described above. Mouthfeel was a bit thin. I bought this bottle at Jungle Jim’s in Fairfield, OH.

From a 12oz into a pint glass. Pours dark but not oily with an inch of head which dissipates but never disappears. Smell is of bitter coffee with light alcohol. Taste is Mainly of coffee, oatmeal, vanilla and alcohol. The alcohol bite remains in your mouth with the coffee flavor as an aftertaste. Overall a very good stout. Not too heavy as some imperial stouts are. The one drawback in my mind is the alcohol bite. I’ll let a couple sit for 6 or so months and try again.

A deep and dark reddish brown; only shows color through bright light. Puffy light brown head, the color of a paper bag; leaves a tan bishop’s collar. The smell is sweetish caramel and that smooth oatmeal aroma. Light chocolate. Balanced by a dry, slightly nutty graininess, like spent mash. Strong and complex. The taste is heavy alcohol flavor, immediately followed by bittersweet malts. Coffee and choco-caramel. Hard to tell where the sweetness ends & bitterness begins, because they mesh so well. A chewy concoction, thick ... like an oatmeal indeed! Both smooth and gritty. Sweet in a dark way, bitter in a pleasant way. Outstanding.