Berkshire Imperial Stout

Brewed by Berkshire Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
South Deerfield, Massachusetts USA

Bottle. Pours black with a tan head. Hoppy aroma mixed with some light milk chocolate. The flavor is fairly sweet with chocolate and caramel. Light to medium body. Highly carbonated that somewhat takes away from the flavor. Enjoyable none the less.

Bomber. Pours super black with ruby edges and a creamy tan head (that, while not huge, never went away). The aroma is lots of molasses and rum with notes of burnt wood, bitter chocolate, and a touch of caramel and toffee. Cocoa and molasses dominate the flavor, though some earthy hop bitterness floats throughout. The middle is kind of like a strong mocha with a touch of roasted nuts. There’s a distinct flavor there that lingers into the finish that took me a minute to identify, but I eventually decided it was white-chocolate covered espresso beans. In the finish some whisky tones also come out. The sweet, malty aftertastes lasts for quite some time, with hints of pecan smoke and alcohol warmth. Rich, satisfying imperial stout.

22 oz bottle, via OldGrowth. Pours a clear black colored body under a small fizzy brown head that fell to a thin partial covering. Aroma is dry and roasty with hints of burnt malt, vanilla, chocolate, a little alcohol, and some light hoppiness. Flavor is roasty with a little too much biting astringency that actually gives it a lightly acrid flavor. Finishes fairly dry with moderate hoppiness. A touch of diacetyl late in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a slick texture and moderate fizzy carbonation. Nothing special about this guy, on the thin and watery side for the style. I was expecting more from this, as I quite liked 1 or 2 other Porters that I had from this brewery.

Pours black into a snifter. Tan micro head quickly recedes with little lacing, but skims rim and surface. Liquorice, chocolate and coffee aromas. Creamy liquorice with a lasting bitter mocha finish.

Lots of rasin and alcohol. Coffee and cocoa. Smooth, rich and sweet. Reminds me a lot of Rasputin.

(22 oz. bottle from <A HREF=http://www.ratebeer.com/Place/massachusetts/f target=blank>Kappy’s) Decent, chocolatey, more like a regular stout or even porter flavor-wise...Pours very dark brown, blackish. About a finger and a half of tannish head. Aroma is mostly chocolate and coffee. If you really sniff there is some wine and raisin-like sweetness. Mouthfeel is decent and full but not particularly elegant. Head is actually a little fizzy rather than smooth and/or creamy-feeling. Great lacing. Flavor is quite dominated by the chocolatiness. Some roasted coffee. The wine/raisin sweetness is way in the background. Finishes with a slight bit of grassiness. Slight alcohol burn. Not much complexity so except for higher ABV not sure it’s really an Impy.

Bomber. Thanks, 46er3498! Crack this beast and stand straight up and by god a wave of chocolatey goodness smacks you in the face like an Ichiro single. Maybe not completely overpowering, but you still have to deal with it. Pours a deep black with some brackish browniness to it; thick moussy head makes a nice show but falls to film when it’s asked to stick around for the long hail. I’ll buy the "velvety texture;" the attack is soft and gentle and craesses its way into the mid-palate. But the mid-palate is as much a chocolate slap as the nose is. If this is a "hint of chocolate liquorice and coffee," you’ll have to call the cops when they brew something they consider bold. The anise and coffee trail far behind the chocolate, but they’re there, too. This is a wonderfully complex sweet stout, though the complexity’s all on the sweet side. That rich roastiness and spiky bitterness don’t come in to provide any counterpoint. Still, we’re talking about what keeps this beer from being a masterpiece, not what keeps it from being very good--because it *is* very good. I would love to have this around town all the time.

Thanks to firemoose415 for sharing. Very nice beer. Aroma of chocolate, licorice, molasses. Pours a healthy black with a thin creamy head. Body is well-balanced. Taste of chocolate, licorice, and some alcohol. Great beer.