Blind Tiger Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Blind Tiger
Style: Imperial Stout
Topeka, Kansas USA

Bottled from a growler thanks to TAR: Pours black with a thin tan head. Aroma is of strong sweet dough, coffee, raisins, sweet chocolate. Flavor of raisins, chocolate, coffee, sweet dough. Bitterness comes in the finish to almost balance the huge sweetness. This beer is very unique. The best way to describe it is raisinettes mixed into sticky bun dough and sprinkled with some expresso. So strong, so chewy, so good.

3/6/05. Poured out of 12 oz. bottle, sampled courtesy of TAR and cb from RateBeer in Scottsdale, AZ 3/6/05. Hand-bottled sample. Nose is like a wood-aged or beautiful oatmeal stout, sweet and milk chocolatey with light roast and toasted malts. Black, oily body, opaque but with dark, deep brown translucent edges. Dark tan-brown head that fades pretty fast. Roast and faint acrid char are really nice. Lightly plummy with just enough alcohol presence but a soft and cool mouthfeel. A touch acidic, nicely balanced with the roast, but the acidity creeps up a bit much in the finish. Medium-full body, soft and slick. Long and milky, slick coating on the finish. Soft chocolate liqueur and trace dark fruits. Very good mouthfeel with great staging of all the flavors. I just wish the acidity were toned down a touch. Still delicious.

Compliments of TAR via robertsreality. Black color with a very thin head. Grainy aroma with a bit of a syrupy hint. More sweet grain in the taste (definitely barley) with some malt and roast in there. I didn’t get the nice variety everyone else seemed to find, unfortunately, and it turned out kind of plain.

Incredible malt, great complex grainy aroma nearly unique for me in it’s sweet complexity. Aroma has a great deal of plumminess and other sweets. The flavor is rich, sweet, malty, husky, corn almost (but of course not) and this has to have some Norhdown or Fuggles or something to help along its intense raisinyness. Wow! Never anywhere near astringent. Great carbonation level sustains and uplifts the body. Hand bottled from the TAR collection, and as usual, there are not enough thanks in the world.

Draft: Ebony appearance with hints of chestnut. Dense cinnamon head. Enticingly buttery English yeast nose with abundant caramel, tar, vanilla, roast, and molasses. Dense, creamy texture. Buttery roast adds plumpness to the body right away. Alcohol is never a factor. Less fruity than it is bittersweet chocolaty with complementary sweet dried plums backings. Sappy thickness coincides with a rich interplay of vanilla, tar, and toffee. Structured with chewy, succulent malt and pungently earthy grainy roast. Finishes climatically chewy and taffy-like with subtle berry esters and vanilla-doused caramel and fudge flavors dovetailing into a mellow crescendo of vinous acidity and raisins, which resurrect the firm leathery yeast and buttery caramel notions. Absolutely awe-inspiring and a notable improvement from the 2003 version.