UPDATED: DEC 31, 2022 Bottled. Pitch black colour with a brown foamy head. Aroma is canilla, chocolate, coffee, roasted malts, some slight alcohol and mild spices. Flavour is chocolate, cacao, mild spicy, alcoholic and smoked wet wooden tones. Alcohol is rather warming, and the spicy edge hangs on to this making this one as bit 'unpleasant' in my books.

UPDATED: DEC 31, 2022 Opaque black beer with no head. Medium/heavy aroma; taste starts medium/heavy sweet and ends slightly bitter and dry. Vanilla, hazelnut, chocolate, mocha, roasted malts and coffee. 8/5/9/4

UPDATED: MAR 6, 2022 Deep, dark and brown coloured body with a thinnish, single to perhaps two centimetre tall tan head that fades fairly quickly. Aroma of deep and pungent sugars with icing sugar, molasses and of course vanilla all here, with a lot of richness from the malt, but seemingly more from the alcohol and the vanilla. Full-bodied; Almost cloyingly sweet with a lot of vanilla and nuttiness here that shows a rich quality and a lot of depth with smooth, sweet flavours and a nuance of cake. Aftertaste is deep and robust with a lot of malts, more sugars and a smooth, very easy-drinking finish that has a lot of vanilla and hazlenut qualities that is robust and rich throughout. Overall, this was easily the best of the bunch, and while I didn't really want it to be, this one was nice across the board and while I'm curious if a few extra years in the bottle would make this even better, it was the only one I had and it was better with two different vintages of the 'normal' beer. I sampled this 65 cL, bomber sized bottle, purchased from Carmine Street Beers in New York (Greenwich Village), New York on 22-January-2017 for US$25,00 sampled as part of three separate bottles as a vertical and horizontal taste testing of the beer on 25-28 February-2022 at my house here in Washington, in order for me to get them down without being knocked out.

UPDATED: DEC 30, 2021 Bottle from V K Liquor in Winter Springs, FL. First off I was surprised to find this bottle at a low key liquor store in Winter Springs where it’s probably been aging for a few years (since Cigar City doesn’t do these special beers as much / if at all). Aroma is strong molasses, dark chocolate, chocolate peanut mousse, earthy vanilla. Taste is very strong molasses, motor oil, oily dark chocolate, creamy and almost nutty backbone that hold it all together. An incredible beer from this once epic (and favorite) FL brewery. Hope to run into a few more dusty bottles while I’m here.

UPDATED: DEC 1, 2020 Unique beer! I ve tried it aged for few years and fresh one. The aged was fantastic. So oily and heavy with huge viscosity, but so balanced! Unique! Not just decent! Just fantastic!

UPDATED: AUG 4, 2020 Nalewa się oleiście czarne, gęste, piana niewielka, o brązowej barwie. W aromacie intensywna czekolada, palone słody, orzechy, czarna kawa. W smaku czekolada deserowa, kakao, czarna kawa, nuty ziemiste, wanilia i orzech w tle. Bardzo gęste, gładkie, bardzo długi finisz, trochę alkoholowy. Wbrew składnikom nie jest to pastry stout, a raczej potężny agresywny ris z dodatkami, które bardziej dodają tu głębi niż grają pierwsze skrzypce.

UPDATED: JUL 3, 2020 Bottle bought some time ago at Beautiful Beers, Bury St Edmunds. The booze is at the fore of the aroma, over a rich nutty chocolate. Dark and glossy. Tan head soon shrinks away. Medium-heavy bitter with a sour touch and increasing umami. Boozy. Hazelnut with coffee and dark chocolate. A roasty edge. The vanilla gradually adds a pinch of sweetness. A lot going on. Thick bodied. Creamy. Flat carbonation. Long slightly astringent finish. Lovely stuff.

UPDATED: FEB 24, 2020 Bottle sorry mom - black and thick - aromas of vanilla coffee- tastes thick with chocolate, espresso, vanilla hazelnut leaves a good aftertaste - interesting

UPDATED: FEB 2, 2020 660ml bottle (Overpriced Beer Tasting #5) thanks suurjuust! (6:4:6:4:13=3.3) Black, tan head. Nice roasty aroma. Nice malty taste, very burnt, toffeeish sweetness. Full palate. Finish a touch warming, but not particularly boozy. Horribly overpriced. Gets boozier later, quite hot.

UPDATED: APR 17, 2022 deep dark Brown colour, moderate sized dense creamy brown head; aroma of hazelnut chocolate, nutmeg, slight vanilla notes and hints of burnt plum jam; taste has the same notes; amazingImperial stout! Many thanks for sharing, kapusil! Note to the brewery: you should not use one of the Russian agressor's war marshals as the name of your beer because it's a shame! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj1MT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptfn8LX8o1A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12CsEuxN5vQ this is what they are doing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fWv7ZK70bI As a sign of my disagreement, I am changing the 'overal rating' to the minimum; as soon as you give up using the name of a f_cking russian motherf_cker, I'll change my rating back