Courage Russian Imperial Stout

Formerly brewed at John Smiths (S&N, Heineken)
Style: Imperial Stout
Tadcaster, England

1975 vintage. Another treat sent by Walt! Charcoal-brown body, thin-medium ochre head, nicely carbonated for a 31-year old beer. Chocolatey aroma with mocha, roasted malt, a hint of marshmallow, and alcohol. Soy flavors opened the palate, followed by brown sugar, toast, charred malts, and alcohol. Raisins are also present. Subsides to a long, bitter finish. This beer held up amazingly over all that time. A real treat.

Cask Handpump at the GBBF, Kensington Olympia 08/08/2003 Black and very strong in alcohol. Plenty of fruit flavour with a dry bitter finish.

huge thanks to hopdog for this one. pours black with almost no head just a few bubbles. very little carbonation. smells great like raisens, port, molasses but subtle, dark fruits licorice vanilla. has a very dry and bitter mouthfeel to it but also a little sweetness hiding in there. i wish i had more of these.

1978 Bottle. Hooray for E-bay! <P> Aroma is dark fruits..raisin, prune, currant. Black licorice and mild sour vinegar notes as well. Deep oily black with almost no head. Fore is thick and rich with salty soy notes, some funkiness and lots of deep dark fruits. I don’t think this bottle held up as well as it could have, but it is still a big flavorful stout.

1973 Vintage Courtesy of Rob (Rooftoprogue). An amazing acquisition sent across the Atlantic to Champaign-Urbana. Poured on the night of Brooklynboy’s surprise imperial stout tasting. Thanks Rob! Onto the beer: Still holding up after all these years. Sure there’s some oxidation and some funkiness, but there’s a solid imperial stout underneath at all, albeit one that resembles sherry more than an impy at this point in time. Lots of sour fruit notes, cherry and even banana on the nose and palate. Tastes like it spent some time in barrel, but I don’t see that on the description. Wonderful stuff, and would be fun to do it again. Gets a 20/20 on overall just for the experience.

1978. Wow, what an experience. Bottle and cap were in excellent condition. The cap came off with some difficulty and a small release of CO2. Almost flat, impenetrable black colour with wisps of tan head which stuck around pretty well. This had possibly the most incredible aroma I’ve come across in beer. The first impression is of raspberry lambic! There’s loads of vinous, aged, Gales-type character, but Gales only wish they could do something this good; leather, cherries, wood, fino sherry and apple cores all give the impression that the beer could be quite sour. Of course there’s also a lot of the more classic stouty stuff like currants, Christmas cake, tar, sultanas and a faint whiff of both alcohol and oxidation. It was all so crazily powerful and interesting and (dare I say it) complex that I could’ve just smelled it for hours. The mouthfeel is the only real letdown for me. It was dead flat and quite chalky - it felt dead. Despite the aroma, it doesn’t taste sour at all. Loads of Dutch liquorice, burnt toast, bitter black chocolate and Xmas cake. Some salty, tannic red wine (Cab Sav?) stuff and the slightest touch of soy sauce. It’s still really roasty after all that time and quite bitter and salty but not a whole lot of malty sweetness remains. Incredibly powerful, yet soft, flavours. God dammit this is what Imperial Stouts are all about. I’m stunned beer can last so well for such a length of time. Shit yeah. Even better than the ’83 at the Kulminator.

Bottle, vintage 1973 - sampled at the RBESP 2005
Very small sample of course, but I’ll try to make the best of it: Black hole colour. Chocolate, fruit and spice notes. Some layer of soy, and smoked bacon. A tad lemonpeel. Amazing.

[RBG Low Countries 2005] (1983) Aroma of mocca, malts. Heavy winey/portlike. Dark opaque coloured with no head. Taste is sweet malty with still, quite well preserved coffee bitterness. Winey, rye, chocolate in it. Great brew. Very smooth.