Victory Storm King Imperial Stout

Brewed by Victory Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Downingtown, Pennsylvania USA

Serve in Snifter

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Nice opaque brew with a light sweet malty nose. Solid flavors of roasted malts, toffee?. Definite for the collection for next winter.

Solid beer! Has this along side the Rasputin and I do prefer this style with less agressive hops more - Rasputin had stonger and bolder flavors. However, I would buy Storm King more often, this is a nice and blananced IS. Deep chocolate notes - java, a bit of wine. Just a great beer - but would like to see a bit more of up front flavors. Great beer nonetheless.

UPDATED: SEP 2, 2011 Bottle (BB Jun/2016). Head is initially average sized, frothy, brown, mostly lasting. Body is black (not opaque, but close, flashlight tested). Aroma is moderately malty (roasted grain, chocolate, husks), lightly hoppy (grapefruit, resin), lightly yeasty (dough), with notes of vanilla and alcohol. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately to heavily bitter, slightly husky. Medium to full body, velvety/watery texture, soft/lively carbonation, moderately alcoholic. Rather straightforward and a bit too bitter (based on the amount of malt), but otherwise reasonably good. A bit grainy/husky. This has never been a 4+ Imperial Stout in my opinion, but I keep trying it every few years to see if they luck on a great batch.

UPDATED: MAR 23, 2005 Smooth and wonderful. I can’t believe this is 9.1%! Hoppy, full and intense coffee taste.

DARK, like a Guiness. Rich head, but doesn’t last long. Lovely floral sweet aroma with a hop character, but malty in the background. Flavor is hoppy, but not bitingly so. It’s actually fascinatingly rounded bitterness. It’s got all the flavor of hops, but little of the bite. Amazingly simple, but there’s definitely craft to getting the hops an malt to balance in such way that you have the sweet characters of both with none of the bitterness of hops and none of the cloying-ness of malt. Pretty amazing.

I’d say this beer’s as black as night, but here in the city, night is so much lighter that there’s no comparison. The beer has a great balance between the roasty/coffee malt intensity and the big cascade hop attack. The alcohol is well masked -- were it not for the label, you’d have no idea how much there is. Wonderfully smooth body. Damn this is a fine beer!

Bottle. A rich, grainy, deep, dark, roasted & toasted, chocolate, semi-sweet, bitter, creamy rich delight. A wine-like alcohol kick, but so light and smooth it masks the intensity. The Aftertaste is long and bitter with a trace of sweetness.

After spending approximately $20 (for 4!) to order these from Vintage Cellar, I really wanted to like it. I was anticipating its delivery for some time. Initial response: it was just ok. I don’t know if I need to let it settle a little more, or what. I thought the color was a little light for an imperial. And I thought I could taste Cascade hops ... could this be right? Cascade in a stout? Just seemed a little out of character. I would/will drink this beer again in a few weeks and see if deserves a re-rate. Presently, however, I will stick with Bells Expedition or Rasputin.

Initial roasted barley / coffee flavors gives way to a huge hop finish. High alcohol, but you have to read the label to find it out. Excellent beer.

What a complex stout! Pours out to a beautiful black with a taste of coffee, malt, hops and Al K. Hall on finish. A very good stout. The alcohol at 9.1% is hidden very well in the beer. Excellent!