Courage Russian Imperial Stout

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

Bottle from 1983 - Very dark brown body with the right head; How enjoyable to put your nose to this beer, very very mature without the slightest sign of age; The softest super complex amazingly evolved acid body; Long long long finish with the most incredible aromas and the most amazing complexity. This is one of the most mature and best evolved beers I have ever tasted. Amazing and so right. All brewers should taste this beer before the dare calling their monstrosities a Russian Imperial Stout.

btl by Springslicker. Dark brown with a red head. Aroma of medicine and abv with some toasted malt. Sour flavor of cough syrup and a bit of an off bitter kinda like soy sauce. No carbonation and not much body. Probably seen better days not terrible. So as not to skew the old boys number by rating a very old bottle I will adjust my 3.1 to be more in line with his prime days. Cuss me if you like.

1983 bottle. A deep black stout with a thin moka head. A nice chocolate aroma with light soy sauce. In mouth, a nice bitter chocolate, soy sauce, curious Brett, and lactic acid. A good interesting stout, which has resisted more than 20 years! Bottle at Kulminator, Nov. 2006.

Bottle courtesy of Greg Koch at our stop at the Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens on 08/03/2008 on day three of RBSG. Vintage 1993. Clear caramel color with nearly no head. Big malty aroma with caramel and honey. Caramel and molassas flavor with a smooth finish. Medium full body with no carbonation.

Vintage 1993 - A pitch black appearance with no head. The aroma is soy sauce, chocolate, coffee, and some dark fruits. The flavor is rather sour with some soy sauce, grapes, chocolate, and noticeable alcohol. This was ok for a small amount but nothing I would drink alot of.

33 cL bottle, 1983 vintage, thanks to faeroeviking for bringing this - nice surprise! Pours dark brown to black with a fully diminished. Dense roasted malty and dark fruity. Very dense. Flavour and mouthfeel is oily. Dark hardroasted malty with a mild chalky note. Smooth and slight tarish. Dark roasted and tarish finish with a smooth alcohol presence.

Bottle. [thanks for sharing, faroeviking]
[vintage 1983]
Pours completely black with no head. Aroma is lightly olxidized, some cellar, tar, roasted malts, raisins and dark chocolate. Super oily mouthfeel, with nearly no carbonation. Fat, oily flavour, lots of chocolate, no oxidition noticeable. Some cocoa powder-like graininess and dryness. No residual sugar. Super long, vinious and warming aftertaste. Great to try!

Botella. Vintage from 1983 taken from the biggest beer collection in the Faroe Islands (my own). "Best before end of 1986" :-) Originally a gift from NosirIwont. Pours a pitch black colour, no head. Nice soft sweet dark fruity aroma with some chocolate and sherry. Sherry sweet dark fruity chocolate mild coffee alco flavour. Long lasting sweet chocolate sherry finish. Great 25 year old brew!