Ølfabrikken Islay Cask Stout

Bottle. [thank you, Myrup]
[my 100th Imperial Stout rating, only the 6th style to reach a century]
Pours almost completely black with next-to-no head. Just a thin rim along the edges of my glass. Aroma is quite well-balanced. There is quite a lot of peity smokiness and wood, but also some caramel, coffee and roasted malts. Very low carbonation, just a slight prickle on my tongue - very oily. Flavour is heavily peity, lots of viniousness and malty character to balance it out. There is a lot of Islay character in here, but it still is incredibly well-balanced. If you’re an Islay drinker, this could be a 4.5 plus, but for me, it’s just below 4.0.

37.5cl bottle. Thanks to miketd for sharing. Aroma: Big peat and smoke aroma with underlying notes of roasted malt, molasses, and coffee. Some light oak and vanilla. Appearance: Black in color and opaque. No head or lacing to speak of. Flavor: Strong peatiness and smoke. Barrel flavors come in soon after with notes of charred oak and vanilla. Some coffee and caramel underneath all of that. A light sourness just before the finish. Finishes a little to sweet and with a lingering smoke/peat flavor. Palate: Full bodied. No carbonation. Light alcohol warmth in back of mouth. Overall: Interesting, but not my favorite. A little to much focus on the barrel flavors. The lack of carbonation didn’t help it.

Bottle from miketd’s tasting

Thanks to Mike for cracking open a beer that I didn’t expect to see. Retired for a while this seems to have aged quite nicely. If you have a bottle sitting in your cellar don’t waste any more time staring at it. Crack it open as soon as possible.

Aroma / Appearance - The clear sticky lacing was pulled into the black fluid body underneath. Above was no head at all. This was about as flat and lifeless as a lambic. Smoke, oak, anise, whisky and coffee mingled peacefully. Without being overpowering the alcohol was evident.

Flavor / Palate - Smoke and oak blended into an earthy introduction. A trufflelike transition to more smoke left a richness on the tongue that stuck around before the dry bitter finish. A little unbalanced it could do with less barrel aging and more base beer profile. The aftertaste lingers like a smoky haze on the throat from hanging out at a bowling alley. An interesting experiment this is not one that I would look hard for again.

Bottle. Large thick creamy almost brown looking head that really lasted. Good display of lacework. Pitch black color. Complex Bowmore barreled whisky just files the room. In there is smoke, dry woodsy, burned and mild vanilla notes. Also alcohol, liquorish, roasted malt, coffee and chocolate could be detected. Over the palate came almost creamy and smooth feel of liquorish and smoky like combo of notes with some underlying coffee and chocolate tones. Full bodied with a soft carbonation and thick creamy, alcoholic and yet that sophisticated silky like feel over the texture. Heavy sweet flavor with good counter bitterness and what appeared as salty notes as well. Heavy liquorish and smoky notes that just lingers forever. Wow that was a fantastic beer!

Bottle. Black colour with a tan head. Aroma is smoked, sirup, coffee, licorice. Flavour is smoked, whiskey, sirup, coffee, licorice. Much flavours in a exciting way.