t Smisje Catherine The Great Imperial Stout

Murky, dark brown appearance with a super sized tan head and loads of lacing. Fairly complex aroma offering up notes of leather, smoke, coffee, molassas and ripe fruit. Passively hopped, yeasty sweetness of the taste yields to tobacco, figs, dates and some roasted malts. Lush, full bodied mouthfeel with a lingering finish. A really good Belgian Strong Ale.

Brown, red colored brew. Not very dark colored. Malty, sweet aroma. Flavor is sweet, some roasted malts, some bitterness, nutty, dark fruits. It’s a weird combination, flavors do not fit together. It’s too shallow and empty, a bit dishwater. Aroma and flavor lack Imperial Stout characteristics. No, I do not like this one.

12oz bottle poured into a snifter. Well, I’m not sure what to make of this one out of the bottle. It pours an opaque caramel brown with a huge rocky off-white head that shows very good retention and lacing. As a barleywine, it’s very good looking. As a stout, it’s not quite right... The smell is much more like a dubbel, with tons of yeasty sweetness and a hint of a lactose and funk in the background. Really weird smell for an impy stout. The taste actually has a pretty strong chocolate presence in the beginning with the big yeasty Belgian backbone taking over in the middle. There are also some dark fruits thrown in as wlel with raisins and plums in the forefront. The mouthfeel is extremely carbonated but still has a soft feel on the palate due to the cask conditioning. This is probably the most interesting take on an imperial stout I’ve ever tasted. It would qualify as a very good Belgian ale but I’m just not sure what category I should be reviewing it under. As an imperial stout it’s probably just below average, so I’ll stick with that....

Ennesima grande birra targata ’T Smisje, questa imperial stout da 10 gradi si fa bere in una maniera impressionante; è profumata, piccante e amara con decoro, con un sentore vago di certa frutta secca natalizia. Con tagliatelle panna e porcini, al Mulino di Villaromagnano.

Bottle@home. Pours a opaque brown color with a huge white head. Smokey, malty and alcohol aroma. Smoked malt and hazelnut flavor. Thin body. Bitter finish. Had better Imperial stouts.

Bottle. Redbrown body, with a small off-white head. Aroma is dark fruits (raisin), roasted malt. Flavor is Roasted malt, dark fruits. This is a very weird stout, I have never seen a stout like this.

From draught at ZBF 2008. Shady brown colour with low head. Pretty good balance of toast and chocolate in aroma, with nuts and caramel on top of that. Chocolate, caramel and biscuity flavour. Lacking in that fieryness I want in an Imperial Stout. Light toasty bitterness, and ended bit sweet. Very un-American Impy here of course.

Disappointingly dark ruby brew with a fine beige slick. Nose locust bean and lactic sweetness, faint milk chocolate, Twiglet, broccoli nuttiness,masses of alcohol once the head has subsided. Improves in the mouth with more smoke and bitterness coming through, but not enough to lay claim to anything like true stoutiness. Oak, alcohol, chiccory bitterness, herbal tonic notes (Balzams), mouldering leaves, crumble of Oxo. Quite an astingent burnt aftertaste without hops, chocolate, coffee, roasted barley.... Tastes like water (with a dram of Bovril) on top of a ’T Hofbrouwerijke Hofblues‏. Ultimately quite a difficult yeasty sipper and no stout, Imperial or otherwise.