Blind Tiger Russian Imperial Stout

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

Growler (1 day old). Poured essentially black. There was a touch of brown during the pour but in the glass its as black as night with a thin layer of brown foam. Aroma begins surprisingly faint, with a touch of molasses and pruney fruit. On the first sip - whoa, big time smooth. Awesome soft and light mouthfeel without being thin in the least. Towards the finish, a acrid style burnt malt and chocolatey raisins soaked in rum and soy sauce blend into a rich semi-sweet finish. Despite this complexity, the flavors are nearly as faint as the aromas, and its pretty weird! The lingering aftertaste features an acrid bitterness that seems to combine the bitterness of a lingering hop (maybe Chinook but thats just a wild guess) with that of heavily roasted malts. The further in, the beer seems drier, featuring more of the roast and less of the fruity molasses character. I think this combination of complexity and fullness of palate while being subtle, understated and easy-drinking makes this a thoroughly world-class imperial stout!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Moderate chocoately roasty aroma, with just a bit of coffee. Rich and malty, with a lively texture on the mouthfeel. This is very smooth for the alcohol level is really undetectable. Highly recommended

I got a growler of this again in December 2008. An excellent and solid brew with well hidden alcohol. Excellent. Older reviews follow. This was my favorite beer when I regularly drank here 6 years ago. It is still the best of the bunch. The body was perfectly black with a light brown colored head. The aroma was soybeans with some Karo corn syrup. There was also some hazelnut aroma. The taste was dark chocolate with some coffee. There were also hazelnuts in the sweet finish. The body was relatively thin for the 10-11% alcohol. At least that is the ABV the bartender told me it had.

On tap at brewpub deep black color when poured Aroma begins surprisingly faint, with a touch of molasses . Flavor has a hint of syrup no lingering aftertaste mouthful was pleasent. Overall a beer I can drink on everydat basis.