t Smisje Catherine The Great Imperial Stout

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

Bottle from Bierkoning. Dark brown body with tall and lasting head. Sweet, caramel nose. Malty and very spicy taste with chocolate notes. ABV kicks in towards the end, warming.

From Voldby, DK. Bottled, 200909. Dark brown with beige head. Aroma of roasted malt and spices. Flavor is spiced with notes of dark fruit and liqourice.

Bottle. Love the label with a horse in a parachute! High fluffy and lasting off-white head leaving nice long lacings. Hazy dark red body. Malty straw aroma with a strange spicy note that I cannot quite figure out. Sweet malty flavor with a bit of liquorice and a dry bitterness as well as some spicy notes. Still cannot quite figure it out but not unpleasant. Low carbonation. Complex and long bittersweet aftertaste.

Pours a very dark brown almost black color with a HUGE frothy beige head that has excellent retention, only very slowly fading into a thick cap as it goes leaving chunks of lacing in it’s path. Hoppy aroma with some dark fruit notes. Spicy presence with hints of pepper, lemon zest, cinnamon and mint. Very strange considering this is an Imperial Stout. Smells more like an DIPA. Very hoppy up front with a strong peppery spice note, chocolate malt, dark fruit followed by a strong zesty/peppery spiciness and a very hoppy dry finish. Not your typical imperial stout.

Bottled at Cafe Frape, Color is hazy very dark amber with huge head. I mean HUGE head. Nose is roasted malt, fruits and yeast. Aroma is the same with more spices and more dominant smoke. This is weird but not bad but definitely NOT an imperial Stout more like a Strong Belgian Ale with a roasted flavour.

Bottle. Pours brown with a nice tan head. Fair lacing. Nose of roasted malt and plums. Flavour of roasted malt, dark fruits, liquorice and molasses. Full bodied. Ends up more dry and pleasant bitter. A nice and well balanced brew.

Bottle from the Sam’s in Downers Grove, Illinois: Odd drink. Not really any roastiness to it, at least not enough to call it a Stout of any sort. It poured an opaque lighter brown body with an humoungous beige head that was half fizzy, half creamy. Then it went away. It had a sweet dark stone fruit aroma with some dark toffee-ish malts and brown sugar. The flavor was much the same, but added a sharp alcohol bite and a bit of earthy bitterness. Way too carbonated. A drink of interest, but not of repitition.

Julio’s Belgian Beer Festival. Sample. I found this to be a big dissapointment. Not like any imperial stout I’ve ever had which is not necessarily a bad thing except that I didn’t like this one. I’m thinking that the yeast is the culprit here and is just not imparting the right flavors for a stout. beh