Fish Tale Poseidons Imperial Stout (Barrel Aged)

Formerly brewed at Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Imperial Stout
Olympia, Washington USA

(750 ml bottle: $11.99 at Bottleworks in Seattle, WA) Batch No. 3 from November, 2001. I’ve been looking forward to this beer for a year now, as it’s been sitting in my beer cellar/bedroom taunting me, but I’ve held firm until the time was right. I’ve rated many of my Imperial Stouts in a series of sessions, and it’s now time to start breaking out my most highly anticipated brews in this category. Poseidon pours a very dark brown out of the color, which in sum appears fully black in my large tulip glass. The light brown head rises to about an inch in height, making for a most beautiful beer. The head bubbles like soda as it forms, and then settles to a thin layer fairly quickly, leaving no lacing. Like many of my aged Imperial Stouts, this one smells wonderfully earthy, pungent and mushroomy, with quite a bit of alcohol present in the nose as well. I’m really not getting any roast in the nose though. That earthy, mushroomy character follows through in the flavor as well. Quite sweet, very fruity and roasty, but a really nice woodiness from the barrel aging also shows strong presence. I wouldn’t characterize the fruitiness as truly cherry per se, but it’s close. Modest smokiness in the finish. It’s not syrupy, but the mouthfeel is certainly full and round, a little sticky and somewhat viscous, and plus, it’s playfully carbonated, so the overall palate is close to perfect. At least for me, I would call this a dessert beer, kind of like port in the beer world. And since I love port, it’s safe to say that I love this beer!

750 mL, 2002 Vintage: Pours pirch black with a dense somewhat lasting brown head. Aromas of malts (roasted, chocolate, coffee), faint alcohol, not as sweet as some of the review I have read. Flavor was well balanced between the cocoa/coffee malts and hops, port wine and an alcohol bite also show.

thanks to maibockaddict i think for sharing this, poured a solid black with a thick creamy coffee colored head, aroma is strong of molasses and chocolates. flavor matched the nose, put add in some burnt coffee tones. an unbelieveably thick rich mouthfeel, and a long lasting chocolate aftertaste, with just a hint of bitter hops to offset a little bit of the sweetness

Pours black with a thick coffee head. Smells strongly of sweet chocolate, malts and hops. Rich bittersweet coffee taste but a weaker taste than I would have expected from an Imerial Stout. Thick long lasting syrupy aftertaste.

Thanks MrFacto for this Batch # 3 November 2001 vintage. Thick brown leather colored head atop a dark black body. Excellent lacing. The aroma is very much like a Cabernet wine. Holy crap. A beer that smells exactly like wine. There’s a chocolate aroma and a slight caramel aroma. There’s also a light coffee aroma. The flavor is chocolately Cabernet. Very original. There’s a bit of caskiness to it. Big dark roasted malts, lots of dark fermented grapes. Slight earthiness. The palate is full bodied, alcohol, slight aceticness. This sucker’s good. :) 9, 5, 9, 4, 18 = 4.5

Batch #4. November 2002 vintage. The aroma is chocolatey, earthy grapes, wood, winey. Some hints of spiciness and light oats. The beer held up really well. The aroma is simply phenomenal. The beer pours to a dark black body with a very lasting creamy dark brown head and red hues. The flavor is very complex. Wine, oak, chocolate roast, vanilla, hints of Merlot. The beer was not oxidized at all. The palate was full, creamy, smooth. Very, very good. Absolutely phenomenal.

Thanks to matt for this version 3 2001 vintage... he kicks all forms of ass, mamal, amphibean, marcupial, fish, bird, bug, them all. poured a huge thick dark black w/ a big thick creamy dark brown/tan head. Smells incredible a big casky cabernet malty smell a touch of something fruity and hints of alcohol. Palate is big rich and creamy coats well nice and thick. a sweet sherry flavored beer w/ some great dry hop beautiful carmel/coffee malt and some great sweet finish hints of a dry chocolate. Oh man is this stuff good..

Dark black color. MEdium dark tan head. little lace. caramel malt and espreso scent.. medium bodied. very wine type taste. I wish I was soberer so I could deduce more from this fine wine. Very nice and yummy. Dry wine taste dominates. A slight grape aftertaste. Thank you very much Matt, it was nice meeting you.

This came in a 750 ml bottle from batch #4 of November 2002. This poured out an opaque thick black with a very tall dark brown head. The picture perfect head falls fairly quickly and leaves no lace in its wake. The smell was sweet with a bit of tartness and alcohol mixed in. Towards the end of the second glass the alcohol seemed to be the dominated scent. I couldn’t detect any of the usual coffee or chocolate smells associated with RIS. Flavor reminded me of medicine upon first sip, with alcohol mixing with an odd tart flavor with a good amount of bourbon like qualities. There was a slight fruity sweetness that helped offset some of the odd flavors. The mouthfeel was quite good though with a full body and a slick feel. This got old be the end of the first glass let alone the whole bottle. I would try this again in the future but this was definitely not one of the better RIS I have had.