Fish Tale Poseidons Imperial Stout (Batch 5 +)

Brewed by Fish Brewing Company/Leavenworth Beers
Style: Imperial Stout
Olympia, Washington USA

After having had the barrel-aged version of this, I was ready for a complete and full letdown. However, that was not "quite" the case. The ratings seem to be all over the place on this one, but I’d have to lean towards the higher end as this definately not a bad imperial stout. Good use of malt complexity and decently balanced with a judicious use of hops. Aromatics are pleasant in this one with cascades making a slight punch to the senses. Not as good as the version from the previous brewmaster, but not all that off target from the one years ago. The big negative is that you can tell they skimped a bit on the malt bill which leaves this slightly thinner than it should have been and used to be. Overall, this is worth a try and a good imperial stout, but don’t get this confused with what they did years ago during the breweries highpoint.

dark brown body that seems to be pretty light for this style...smells very much like a barley wine (very sweet and heavy in carmelized sugars)..flavor heavy in sugar, caramel and milk chocolate...very thin, watery palate

2006 bottling, 8% ABV. Deep, hazy red-brown body, translucent (at least at the edges), thin buff head. Heavy caramely nose with roasted malts, raisin, and prune, borderline barleywine. Chocolate is more assertive in the body, which also develops heavy caramels, prune, and raisin, sweet, with biting alcohol. Somewhat difficult to judge, this beer has interesting complexity and fair heft but is rough-hewn.

Batch # 5, bottled Nov. 2004. Damn!, just the pour on this was great. Nose was roasted chcolate and vanilla and coffee, and that was just from the pour. Darkm thick oily black body with a light brown with red higlights head. Nose was even more intense up close. Ohh.... I got a 10% bottle here, yum! This was slightllt hot, yes even 2 years old, but after that initial % on the tongue there were hops, and dark chcolate, and creaminess and coffee and.. this is excellant! Mystery swap 2.0, thanks to Kramer !

Pour is black with a large creamy light tan head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, caramel, and bitter hops. Flavor is not that great. Fairly weak chocolate and coffee flavor with hints of roastiness and finishes with some bittern hops. Mouthfeel is weak for an imperial stout.

2006 bottle. Pours a dark brown/black with an average khaki tan head. Aroma is...strange! Spicy, planty, some liquorice, leather (like shoes or purses), and a slight bit of toffee under all that weirdness. Not an inviting mix of scents. Taste is leathery too and lacking in malt presence. There’s a sensation of roast that registers, but I don’t think there’s much taste until it hits my throat. Finishes with *surprise!*, more leather. There’s a dry chalky hop flavor to it, but it doesn’t match the style very well to me. Mouthfeel is medium as is carbonation, but it just feels a little slick and watery. At least the 8% is hidden. Did barrel-aging really improve this to 4.0 levels?

Okay, the second glass was a little better, so I’ll improve the score slightly. There was a coffee and caramel componenent to the aroma, and the taste had a bit more black coffee and chocolate taste. Not nearly enough though to make up for the leather astringency.

Head is initially small, frothy, brown, mostly diminishing. Body is black (not opaque). Aroma is moderately malty (roasted grain, cocoa/chocolate), moderately hoppy (resin), with notes of chalk and alcohol. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, lightly to moderately bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly to moderately acidic, moderately to heavily bitter. Medium to full body, velvety/watery texture, lively carbonation, lightly alcoholic. Boring rendition.

Bomber. Beer is very dark brown, nearly opaque. Head is initially average, frothy, light brown. Diminishes into a ring around the snifter.<P> The aroma is malty with moderate notes of molasses, roasted grain, light chocolate and coffee, trace of toasted nuts; Hoppy with heavy notes of resin/pine, light notes of grapefruit oil and cedar; Yeasty with a light note of basement, trace of sweat and bread yeast; Trace of clove, Light note of alcohol.<P> The flavor is moderately sweet, moderately-to-heavily bitter with a long, lightly sweet, lightly-to-moderately bitter, trace acidic finish.<P> The body is medium, the texture is watery-to-velvety and the carbonation is average.