Beer Valley Black Flag Imperial Stout

Brewed by Beer Valley Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Ontario, Oregon USA

RBSG 2007 Grand Tasting. Black with a thick brown head - pretty beer. Very big nose of bittersweet chocolate and strong grass. The flavor is much more complex, adding rich coffee and some vanilla notes. Smooth, creamy mouthfeel is a highlight. Just a tad sticky, with a cocoa finish. Nice!

Bottled, thanks to Chuck! Poured damn near black with a loose ring and some swirly dusting of deep caramel head. Aroma was very heavily roasted black patent malts, chocolate, and some thick alcohol. Flavor picked up very heavy roast that was similar to the aroma.. chocolate and patent malts.. herbal and espresso bitterness accented very well.. left a very warm deep-roasted coffee finish with some sticky licorice. Thick and rather syrupy on the palate and very warm. Enjoyed this very much!

jet black pour small brown head avg lacing. THis beer is clearly big at first scent. The aroma is hot some definate alcohol overtones along w/ a big chunk of roasted malts a tiny touch of coffee, anise, and vanilla. Great mouth feel huge thick and creamy. Heavily roasted flavor some good vanilla notes some well mixed alcohol and some more roast w/ a sweet lightly bitter coccoa finish. MMMMM good stuff.

Bottle courtesy of bu11zeye pours with a small tan head. Deep black pour. Licorice and dark chocolate with a bittersweet finish. Good.

Sampled at the RBSG ’07 grand tasting, shared by SoLan, this beverage pours an opaque dark brown brew with a long lasting and lumpy dark head. Aroma of dark chocolate, brown sugar, molasses, and flowery hops. Taste is thick and chewy. Full bodied with very little carbonation. Other flavors include, citrus peel, roasted chocolate malt and a slight metalic tongue feel. Finish is smooth and sweet (orange peel) with a slightly lingering dry aftertaste.

22oz bottle. Sampled both batch 1 and 2 thanks to FlacoAlto. This rating is mostly for batch 2. Medium black body, medium dark brown head, doesn’t build, sits still. Nose is straightforward biting charred malts and various astringent, burnt compounds such as leaves, plastics and motor oil. Overhopped and overburnt nose. Flavor is a bit similar, too much bitterness, too much astringent burnt malts, little to no mellow sticky malt body. Ends with an unpleasent yeast paste on the tongue. Batch 1 was less carbonated but more sticky and malty. Overall I thought this was below average. Something like this does not get in the high threes just because it’s high alcohol and is called imperial stout. There’s nothing intimate or complex about this or a number of other highly rated stouts. Don’t even attempt to create a good recipe, just load it with hops and brew it over 11% and the beer geeks will drink it up, literally.

Jet black color with a tan ring of foam on top, can’t really call it a head. Roasted malt and dark chocolate aroma. Flavors of chocolate, coffee and some fruitiness. Very smooth on the palate.

RBSG 2007 I was scared to read from my notes that I rated black flag at the summer gathering (thanks boboski for clarifying) and thanks to SoLan--and his mother?-- for the drink. After seeing the label I remember it as if it were yesterday...pours black with a brown head, making the ominous label even scarier,,, but then it smelled like oranges (aren’t you glad I didn’t say banana). Sugary sweet with a dry finish.