Cigar City Marshal Zhukov’s Imperial Stout

Brewed by Cigar City Brewing
Style: Imperial Stout
Tampa, Florida USA

Bottle at Hophead22’s tasting a couple weeks ago. Pours pitch black with an impressively dark brown creamy head. Aroma is tonst of roasty coffee and some milk chocolate. Flavor is again abundant with roast, a strong bitterness but slightly sweet with a chocolatey mocha thing going on. Slightly tart. Thick on the tongue with silky smooth carbonation.

Bottle pours black as night with a coffee tan head. Oily minerals and roasted malt. Vanilla dry roasted malt chocolate with bitter coffee undertones reminds me of a baltic porter a bit. 11% where the hell did that go? Fantastic beer.

750 ml thanks to drewbeerme. Dark oily black with a beige creamy head. Strong roast rich caramels, toffee, chocolate, and some ashy smoke. Red fruit is hidden underneath but the roasted malts dominates. Roasted malts and tobacco dominate the flavors. Some red fruit, caramel, and a slightly ashy finish. Becomes a little sweet, syruppy, and boozy when it warms up. Slick oily body. Despite this slight distraction, this is overall a really solid impy stout. well done.

750mL bottle, courtesy of wavers1. Thanks! Pours a very dark, chocolate-brown color; nice oiliness; slight, oily yellowish-brown bubbles. Lots of oily, dense dark chocolate and bitter mineral notes in the aroma; honestly, this is kind of reserved in the nose, overly charred and simple. Full mouthfeel: lots of dense oiliness, dark chocolate, and bitter mineral notes; nicely balanced imperial stout, hidden alcohol, smooth, but tight presentation overall. Lengthy finish: bitter chocolate, minerals, nicely roasted and charred notes; solid.

Bottle. Pours black-as-night, with glass-staining lacing and a very thick head. Nose is huge on roasted malts with heavy hops to boot. Lots of dark chocolate and plenty of dry fruit, too. Some vanilla. Flavor is awesome: big roast, dark malts, coffee, chocolate, some toffee and caramel, too. Really cool, very easy to drink despite the enormity of it. Love it.

Poured into a snifter. Ink black and thick like motor oil with tan ring. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee, dark chocolate. Taste is bitter and roasted. Creamy mouthfeel, quite smooth. Very nice!

Kuhnhenn WInter Soltice BA/RB tasting party. Thick RIS, thick chocolate. Pours dark brown with some head. Great tasting. A little chocolate in th aroma.

bottle thanks to Daknole, a nice pffsssttt as the bottle opens releases a nice mist and I start to pour. Now I know I have used the term "motor oil" and "thick as hell" before, but no other beer, NOT ONE can touch the consistency that this brew has. Pouring it in the glass I get the feeling that this beer could clog my arteries, it honestly looked like maple syrup going on pancakes. Once settled in the glass, a thin waterfall leaves a very dark and mean looking dark brown head. The aroma is unique to any other RIS nose I have had the pleasure of sniffing. Strong expresso, booze, dark fruits, and wood. Really no sweet aromas at all. It’s entirely dark, bitter, and brutal smelling. Flavors follow that thought process to a T. Bitter expresso, molasses, oak, and a dryness in the mouth from a nice hop character. There is balance, but it seems more of a balance of one form of bitter to another. There really isn’t a sweet note at all, and it’s really not a bad thing at all. This puppy is dark and dangerous. Thanks to Dak and CCB!