Southampton Imperial Russian Stout

Brewed by Southampton Publick House
Style: Imperial Stout
Southampton, New York USA

No. 53. Big thanks to Douglass 88 @ the Pgh RB gathering 12/09. Please forgive my numbers on this, this beer certainly is on style. I rate by how much I enjoy a beer and this stuff was big and black with a choco moose head. Aroma was very crisp and volatile. Surprizingly there was no gunk on the bottom of the bottle. Big bitter beefy strong flavors that are way over the top for a lager lover. Coffee, licorice and chocolate prevail. Comes across like strong medicine. Big long bitter linger that roto-tills across my taste buds. Some carbonation. A little more smokey than dry. I am not worthy to have tasted nor rated this brew. But I am glad I got the chance to experience it. Why? Because its there.

Bottle at 12/19 Pgh tasting, thanks to douglas88!
Black with a tan head. Nose of heavy plum, roast, and oat... very little of the cloying sweetness or hot mess in many recent Imps. More of this quality balance in the flavor, light chocolate and dark fruit balanced by bitter roast and light hop through the finish. I’ve had the ’09 in small samples now three times, and each seems better than the last.

750 ml bottle thanks to hopdog, shared at the great Pittsburgh tasting. Pours a pure black color with a large brown head. An amazing nose; strong dark fruits, cocoa, smoke. The flavor is more of a dry smoke and roasted malt, chocolates, loads of cocoa, sweet and easygoing. Hot but well made. Delicious.

Black pour with a fizzy khahki head. The carbonation was a bit much for this beer, broke up the palate, killed the viscous smooth beer I was hoping for. Dark charred chocolate up front, vanilla, oak, and soft licorice earthiness.

2008 22 oz. bottle at Hellbilly’s tasting back in Feb. - Pours a clear brown color with no head or lacing. flavor and aroma is roasted malt, dark esters, and coffee. Medium to full body. Very nice.

Bottle # 272/450 compliments of laroja. Poured a dark black color with brown tan head. Flavor and Aroma of cocoa, roasted malts, coffee, raisins and some hops. Low to medium carbonation. Overall pretty good.

Wow. It’s been awhile since I’ve been really underwhelmed by a beer that’s been well hyped/rated, especially one like this. Received via trade with daknole a few weeks back and cracked this open the first chance I had to properly share it. My brothers house was the location, and our Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving get together with friends and neighbors. This was one of the beers towards the end. We didn’t have a huge amount of beers to have (7-8) so I don’t think it was palate fatigue. Anyways...

The beer pours out a stunning onyx black body with a huge 3 finger dark brown/grayish looking color, tight bubbles, creamy and nice lacing left behind. Notes of coffee, dark chocolate, rubbing alcohol, black licorice and jammy dark fruits. First taste, I get the coffee/dark chocolate notes up front but there’s something strange. I get a ton of ashy sawdust/bloody/mineral/olive oil thing going on which is strange. Very astringent too. I let it warm-up a little more (we were drinking outside, so it was already about 60 degrees) and nothing changes, except for a nutty bitterness seems to creep in that I didn’t get the first few sips. I kept going back to the beer for about 30 minutes or so, swirling, warming with my hands, etc. It just didn’t change for the better at any point.

I asked my brother, who is also a beer geek, what he thought and without giving him my thoughts, he just said he felt like it was a bloody mucusy mess in his mouth! Yeesh. I don’t know about that but the beer seemed to look good in every aspect save for the taste, which if fell on it’s face I think. A bad bottle perhaps? Maybe, can’t rule it out. But I think this was a once in a lifetime beer, so I doubt I’ll get a second chance with it. Bummer.

Bottle #381 / 450

2009 Bottle # 375/450 - Than.ks Jake65! - Pours thick and almost black with a small tan head...aroma is very nice, dry roasty malt, cocoa and coffee...flavour is similar, bitter charred wood, black coffee, some dark chocolate and malt keep it in balance...great mouthfeel with a lingering, coating finish...very tasty!