Fish Tale Poseidons Imperial Stout (Batch 5 +)

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

Big thanks to Bockyhorsey for this one. <P> Bottle. 2004. Chocolate, fudge, cocoa and black licorice come out in the aroma. This beer is ebon with just a brown smattering of a head like a patch of algae floating in a stygian sea. Dark baker’s chocolate, espresso, has an almost gamy fowl taste as well due to the incredibly oily feel. Hints of black licorice and under ripe dark fruits are also present.

Bottle poured black with thick creamy chocolate head and sticky lacing. Big roasty chocolate and coffee aroma and flavor. Medium/heavy body. Alcohol is very well hidden.Bitter finish Excellent Stout!

Medium thickness, opaque and ink black in color with dusty tan speckles for the head. Aroma is rocking. Vibrant roastiness, chocolatey sludge with espresso, caramel and dense fudge brownies. A very similar nose to Expedition. Flavor pans out nicely. Dry, dark chocolate cocoa powder and character traits in line with an iced mocha with a double shot of espresso. Lactic accents. Semi-sweet chocolate with an amplified twang at the pauses where there’s hops assertion. Dry yet waxy palate feel. Elegant and lovely. Love the balance combination. Finishes like burr grinded espresso soot and chocolate chip remnants. Proof positive that we can hold imperial stouts to high standards.

One of the ugliest packages I have ever seen, but don’t judge a book... Black, strong roasted head, very rich, but not quite smooth enough to be among the elites.

12oz Bottle: Dark oily black with rich, thick and retentive tan head, tons of crazy artistic lacing. Nose of light plums and smoky roast, sharp chocolate and mild coffee. The flavor is HUGE in smoky character. You could push this as a rauchbier and get away with it. A touch of dark fruit sweetness along with the liquid smoke flavor. Finishes a bit more balanced but oily. Overall it’s not near a beer as the barrel aged one was. No complexity and the over-aggerated features haven’t blended into harmony so it stands out like a german in Chad.

batch #5, Nov ’04. black body, dark tan thick foamy head. aroma is strong chocolate malt, blackstrap molasses, and prunes. nice smooth texture, almost velvety but the carbonation makes it creamy/lively. great chocolate malt flavor, vanilla too? lots of dark fruit also. roasted malt and bitterness kicks in like hopped up licorice. aftertaste is bitter and a little salty, but there’s not much heat like others have mentioned. can’t compare this to other batches, but this one’s quite alright. thanks to secret santa 1faststi!

Batch #5, 11/2004. Sampled in a Pizza Port Real Ale Fest pint glass. Opaque black brown with not much fizzy light brown head. Filmy oily granular-looking bubbles stick to the side and slink down the side unappetizingly; I wouldn’t call it lace because it aint pretty. Racing has the same granular quality but is much more appealing, striking deep and gracefully rising to the top. The bubbles do interesting things on the top of the beer, emerging and dissipating with motion, almost as if they were a property of the surface rather than a layer riding on top of it (I don’t know if that makes sense to anybody else). Smell is very nice and potent: sweet dark chocolate, caramelly malt, and deep almost too-ripe plums, maybe even a little black cherry; overall, a very natural impression of sweetness. Intense flavor up front is awesome; a roasty bitter that’s acrid yet rich at the same time, riding the firm thickness of the mouthfeel. The initial rich intensity blends into subdued malt sweetness and eventually into an intensely bitter hoppy and roasty finish that is also quite salty and displays a bit of alcohol pungency. The salt and bitter belie a certain amount of dryness, but I wouldn’t say the finish is classically dry. The intensity of the finish flavors is amazing; it has amazing retention. Roasty all the way through, this is maybe the most bitter imperial stout I’ve ever experienced. While impressive and worthy of respect, my own inclination is toward something a bit more balanced.

Pours like motor oil from an engine long overdue for a lube n tune. Strong roasted sweets in the nose, a lot of licorice and coffee. Initial flavors of dark rich, smoked chocolate and espresso. Intense flavor right off the bat. Lingering taste of charcoal smoky, burnt outer marshmellow taste. Aftertaste of burnt crust. Notable alchohol burn right from the start. Mouthfeel is creamy-oily