Arcadia Imperial Stout

Brewed by Arcadia Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Battle Creek, Michigan USA

From a 12 oz. bottle with an unnotched bottling freshness date along the right side of the label, 2006 vintage in the lower left, put in the refrigerator for an hour, sampled in my traveling snifter glass. Poured a syrupy looking dark blackish brown with a small foamy, creamy light brown head that slowly settled into a thin sudsy lacing. A good roasted malty, estery nose, coffee with cream, chocolate, sweet smoky molasses and earthy. Good moderate carbonation and a crisp, dryish, slick, creamy smooth full bodied mouthfeel. Smooth sipping RIS taste, an earthy nuttiness, roasted maltiness, coffee, chocolate, soy, charcoal and molasses, some herbal leafiness and lightly citric hoppy with a soft bitterness, purple plums and prune fruity, the alcohol is barely noticeable, has an estery nature, provides a low temperature warmth in the palate and a dry, softly roasted malt bitter finish. I love the Nut Brown from Arcadia, well o.k., I like how they do English style beers in general, but this is slowly becoming my favorite of their brews, if you like Russian Imperial Stouts, then this is something you need to try. It’s nowhere near Dark Lord, but still it is pretty tasty and balanced.

12 oz bottler thanks to dmac621. Poured a deep dark black with a small head. Smells of chocolate, vanilla bean. Tastes smooth, with hops, malt coffee, chocolate and a little fruit. Pretty good.

2005 Bottle. Thanks Pops! Pour is black with small tan head. Interesting aroma of wood, vanilla, a little chocolate. Taste was chocolate, peanut brittle, and more vanilla with a generous hoppy bitterness in the finish. As it warmed it got worse. And weird. A lighter and unique impy. A little watery and chalky at times. Carbonation seems to be lacking. I tried to like this.

Bottle courtesy Dansting. Poured pitch black with a tannish head, almost looked like it had purple off hues, but I wasn’t in good lighting and was pretty tired. Label does say black currants, so who knows. Lacing was very minimal if any at all, high abv appeared to have minimized much of anything. The aroma was fruity (berries), oxidization, resinous hops. The flavor was along the same lines, the currants certainly making a significant showing. Unfortunately, the berry-ness of this whole thing really didn’t meld well for me with the light coffee roast underneath and a bitter metallic hoppy finish. The mouthfeel was the best part, far from sticky, yet full. Unfortunately, I’d rather have had more in the flavor dept. Nevertheless, thanks goes to Dan for hooking me up with this one.

Thanks to Drewbeerme.. Dark Brown and heavy body pours thick and very aromatic. Tastes of coffee bean, caramel, vanilla marshmallow and peanuts. Very melow and smooth for an Imperial, almost no alcohol present or interfering. Perfect palate and a nice deep and rich finish with a nutty and hoppy aftertaste. Overall i think this one is underated... it should be cellared at least a year.

(bottle) deep black with almost no head. Roast malt, coffee aroma. Flavor is coffee. roast malt. Definite alcohol. Somehow less than the sum of its parts.

At my 2007 Impy Stout Tasting. Thanks to bditty187 for the beer. Pours black with a thick light brown head. Lots of tiny bubbles in the head. Has a mild roasted chocolate flavor, but nothing outstanding. A good beer. 2005 vintage.

My first Arcadia beer and a great start with this brewery. Black as coal color, limited brownish head, chocolate/coffee nose with a bit of alcohol. Tasty, sweetish taste with coffee/alcoholly flavoring that’s really easy going down. Well done.