t Smisje Catherine The Great Imperial Stout

Brewed by Brouwerij Smisje
Style: Imperial Stout
Mater, Belgium

Serve in Snifter

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11.2oz bottle, which I’m pretty sure I got from Party Source. This fucking asshole of a beer foamed all over my desk when I opened it. Fuck you, beer. Clear dark brown / red color, looks more like a dubbel than a stout. An entirely unreasonable and unneccessary amount of bubbly airy white head. Had to pour in small installments, every small pour would generate a whole glass full of head again. At least the head doesn’t have great retention, I don’t have to wait too long for it too fade away. Bigger body. Stronger, soft carbonation. More dry finish. Not at all chewy or thick light American imperial stouts are. Dark fruit, some chocolate syrup, spice. If it weren’t for the presence of the roasted malts, I’d never guess that this was an imperial stout. More sweet taste than bitter. Kind of a tart taste. Light cloying sweet alcohol bite in the finish. Very disappointing.

Intenso color rosso/bruno con schiuma beige mediamente persistente. Al naso offre frutta fresca, caramello, malto e un tocco speziato tipico dei lieviti belgi; gusto rotondo e dolciastro, note erbacee, fruttate, maltose e lievemente tostate. Corpo medio, effervescenza vivace e struttura oleoso-setosa; ricorda più una strong ale che una stout e l’impronta belga si sente tutta! Non eccezionale, ma senza ombra di dubbio particolare!

11.2oz bottle - pours amber/brown with beige head and thin lacing. Nose is grassy hops and caramel - not what I expect from an imperial stout. Flavor adds roasted malts, burnt coffee, dark fruit, alcohol and herbal hops. Oddly enough the bitterness does not come from the coffee flavors but from hops. The sweetness is more like that of a tripel. Some definite yeast issues in the finish. This mess reminds me of a local brewery. metallic aftertaste.

Bottle poured a clear reddish amber with a lasting amber head. Aromas of carmel, pear, pineapple, yeast and spice. Palate was light bodied and crisp with a smooth finish. Flavors of carmel, pear, yeast, light spice and a hint of earthiness with a smooth lingering fruity finish.

33 cl bottle @ hotel room, Brussels. Rated on 18.07.2010
Aroma has vegetables typical to danish ales, some earthy and roasted notes. And a sourish feeling. Flavour is sourish with vegetables, roasted notes, soy sauce and distant earthy notes. Probably the worst Imperial Stout I’ve had.

Bottle. Pours dark brown with a large beige head. Aroma of malt, caramel, fruit, spice and yeast. Flavour is moderate to heavy sweet and moderate bitter. Medium bodied with moderate carbonation.

Blek blek. Cloudy amber with a white head. The nose is sweet and malty with toffee, dark fruits and light roast.Medium body, moderate carbonation The palate is sweet with notes of herbs, raisins, plums, pears and toffee. B@H

Deep, rich saddle-brown. Nearly opaque with dark sediment. Wonderful head. My pour sucked and it still looked fantastic. Aroma is complex - Spices and sour fruits, some alcohol. Some nice roasted character comes through, too. Different from what I think an RIS should typically be, but not bad by any means.Typical stout flavor up front with roasted coffee notes and something that reminds me of a pumpernickel bread crust. Fermented plums or raisins also come through. It has a dryness to it and finishes slightly astringent, with a salty edge. Mouthfeel/palate was somewhat dry. Has some body to it. I don’t feel the carbonation helps this stout, at all. It’s not overly strong, but for some reason just doesn’t "mesh" with the rest of this beer’s character. Overall, expensive ($5.99 for 11.2oz), taste does not live up to the aroma, unfortunately. Alcohol is ever-present and the flavors just don’t jive. I really wanted this to be something unique. I guess it was - just not a ’good’ type of unique. And they seem to have ditched the humorous (if slightly off-color) horse for a really poor reproduction of Fedor Rokotov’s portrait of Catherine.

Bottle at home. Clear dark reddish color with a very large beige head, nice lacings, yeast sediment. Aroma heavy malty (brown sugar, roasted, fruity, spicy, notes of wood), light yeasty, medium hoppy. Flavor quite sweet and spicy, medium bitter, long lasting, quite dry? Almost full body, lot’s of alcohol, warming.

Pours with an incredibly aggressively huge head. Caramel body. Smells Belgian-spice and candied fruit aromas, maybe green apple? On the heavy side and profusely carbonated mouthfeel. Some dark fruit, woodsy, malty notes. I’m not convinced that everything comes fully together here, but the ideas are interesting.