t Smisje Catherine The Great Imperial Stout

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Imperial Stout
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

Bottle. Creamy off-white good mostly lasting head. Dark red amber colour. Yeasty soapy aroma, Moderate bitter flavor. Powerfull long finish. Creamy palate. OK beer but more like BSA than Stout.

Bottle at O’briens. Pours with a dark amber-bown body topped by a thick, off-white head with little lacing. It’s slightly sweet and malty with a touch of yeast and a hint of roast. Basically tastes like a belgian double with a touch of roasted malt. Medium bodied and smooth yet a touch dry.

Name: t Smisje Catherine The Great
Date: 04/02/2008
Mode: Bottle
Source: Green’s, Atlanta

Appearance: clear very dark ruby red, big tan head qickly settles down,
Aroma: sweet estery aroma with lots of ripe plum ans a touch of chocolate,
Body: big carbonated body,
Flavor: lots of rich ripe plum flavor, touch of estery sweetness, nice chocolate comes in for complexity, a swirl of yeast adds a bready yeasty character and an earthyness,
-------- /> Name: t Smisje Catherine The Great
Date: 06/15/2008
Mode: draft
Source: brick store

draft follows the bottle very well with maybe a richer chocolate character to blend with the fruity esters,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.4/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **+/4

ZBF 08. Hazy, murky brown pour with a thin light brown head. Aroma of yeast and fruity esters. Flavor of toasted malt, fruits and yeast. I like most t’Smisje beers, but this one is disapointing.

Dark tan foamy head. Yeasty aroma that goes down very smooth with a nice balance.

Poured a hazy deep amber color with a large beige head. Yeasty aroma with notes of smoke, dry spice, figs and plums. Light fruit to the start of the flavor. Plump raisin flesh. Dry finish with a light spice. Bitterness on the finish with some warming.

Stubby bottle and served in my Expedition snifter: A very deep dark brown with a huge tan rocky head and excellent lace. The aroma has notes of milk chocolate and milk sourness, bready and toasty malts, star anise, fig, and a dusty yeast ester. The taste starts with a strange combination of twangy fruits, lactic sourness. liquorice and sweet chocolate with a finish of dry herbs and spices. The mouth feel is sprite and sharp, biting and a tad chalky. This is sort of a cross between a Belgian Strong Ale and an Imperial Stout with a hint of sourness for good measure. If you expand your expectations of what the genre is then you will find a complex tasty little gem here.

Pours a barely transparent amber mahogany with a large, airy, wispy-lacing beige head. Aroma of sweet dark caramel and toasted malts with a good amount of bready Belgian yeast and a touch of milk chocolate. Body starts with the typical Belgian effervescence and a rich dark caramely malty sweetness toward a slightly drier, biscuity malty finish. Definitely not your typical imperial stout, but it’s a pretty good Belgian Quadrupel nonetheless.