Fish Tale Poseidons Imperial Stout (Barrel Aged)

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

Light brown head, mostly to fully diminishing, fair lacing. Dark brown body. Woody, sweet and a bit or caramel in aroma. Sweetness first in my mouth then bitterness toward the end. A bit oily palate. Sampled at MartinT’s place with other RateBeerians for the "Montreal’s Voyager Par Les Papilles’ first tasting session".

Wood barrel strongly apparent in the nose along with typical roasted malts and fair amount of alcohol. Opaque, still, black body with very shy dark brown fully-diminishing head. Sweet malty flavour with red wine-like alcohol and fruitiness. Plenty of woody character and a salty finish that I found unappealing. Smooth mouthfeel and low carbonation. For some reason this one just did not do it for me. Perhaps I’ll have an opportunity to resample another day. Bottle sampled with beerbuzzmontreal, Lubiere, MartinT, Rastacouere and SimonB.

Pours a dark brown color with no head. Woody aroma with alcohol and roasted malt. Flavor of fruits, roasted malt and chocolate. Astringent and bitter finish. Vinous texture. Very good stuff.

Munificent grapes and their alcohol find warm residence in the thick roastiness of the malts and their oily dark chocolate...Yeasty fruitiness is grounded by a few marshmallows and the vinous personality elevates it to near-decadence...If not for the pinch of saltiness in the end, the barrel-aging is very well-done and personable...A somber elixir to christen the most devilish winter evenings...

Sampled post DC/MD/VA/WV/PA Ratebeer Gathering 11/20/04 (Thanks eyedrinkale): Pours dark brown/black with a small tan head. Has some hops, chocolate, oak, dark malt, roasted notes, finishes slightly bitter & slightly acidic. Rich and smooth.

Black, opaque, reddish hints. Low light brown head. Extremely vinous aroma among explosive red wine character. Complex fruitiness (blackberries, berries, grapes) expressed over a leafy/branches tray. Bourbon undertones peaking through a toasted pumpernickel bread and blueberry jam breakfast. This smells terrific. But, upon tasting, I don’t know how well the barrel blends with the beer itself. I get more and more envy to try the base beer as this one may be a bit overly sweet, vinous and balsamic tart, almost like a red wine. This may be a bit too much combined with the roastiness, tobacco and herbal finish. Acidity just doesn’t mix very well in the end. Rather high carbonation, liquorous mouthfeel, medium body. Still very good and challenging. Thanks Sham!

[Batch 4, bottled November 2002, Sampled November 2004] A pitch black beer with a huge brown head. The aroma is sweet malty with notes of coffee and alcohol. The flavor is very sweet with notes of coffee, chocolate and prunes, but also hints of infection.

I expected a lot from this one, but must say that I was a little disappointed..... Pours pitch black with a foamy brown head. Sweet aroma with a sourish tone. Roasted, prunes and fruit. Different and weird. Very fruity flavor with a dark roasted tone. Extremely sweet, almost like a fruit stout. Interesting but hmmmm.....