Free State Owd Macs Imperial Stout

Brewed by Free State Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Lawrence, Kansas USA

Aroma was of a light coffee. The appearance was dark black with a caramel colored head. Palate was alcoholic with a medium body. Flavor was sweet, coffee, and alcocol. Definitely in the style... Thanks JCapriotti.

Does the Emperor wear clothes? That was the question we (well, some of us...) asked as we opened the growler that JCapriotti brought to MrFacto’s ’Tosa tasting. I can state with confidence the Emperor does indeed wear clothes, though he is without the regal robes we thought he might possess. Deep murky brown body, thin/medium light cream head. Lots and lots of coffee in the aroma as well as chocolate, light touches of licorice, butterscotch, and the dull influence of oak and vanilla. Oak was definitely more evident in the flavor than it was in their barleywine, playing off the oily, silky body with its chocolate, coffee, and molasses. Salty and somewhat leathery. Light toasty notes peeked through the morass every now and then. Just a touch of dark fruit and a hint of vanilla. The woody flavors tended to dominate the innate beer nature, but the sum of the parts wasn’t complex enough to blow me away. Still, this was a treat to sample, and still definitely worth seeking out.

Pours an almost black color. no head. Aroma of wood, bourbon and cherries. A bit of coffee and roasted malt. Flavor is more wood, coffee, choclate, molasses and licorice. Palate is smooth, very nice! Thanks to JCapriotti for bringing this one!

Growler. Earth, charcoal smoke, mahogany and bourbon in the aroma. The bourbon-heavy flavor also features cane sugar and thick chocolate malt. Nice vanilla smoothness, if that actually is a type of smoothness. Too much bourbon sweetness for this rater, it detracts from the tasty choclate/coffee backbone.

sampled from a plain brown capped bottle.first off i must say thanks to csbosox for this special treat.i filled my snifter glass up and got a black body with no head what so ever.i recieved a lovely aroma of cherries,smoke,and roasted malts.i was very pleased with how well the aroma was balanced.the next surprise was how thick the body was.....ITS HUGE!.this gave the beer lots of room to give off many complex flavors.whiskey,cherries,malts,bitter chocolate,and coffee all danced around on my tastebuds.even minutes after a sip i can still tatse the complexity.this is just plain awsome!!!!

Special thanks to ClarkVV and csbosox for getting this to me.This is a brew that is a wonderful deep dark cherry color with no head.Nose is a fine blend of vanilla,whiskey,molasses and dark ripe fruit like dates.I can taste the whiskey but I also get a little port and vanilla-oaken flavor.This is a special brew and I am grateful to have the chance to taste this.

Not quite opague...major anise going on in my nose, also lots of woody-smelling boozy aromas. Taste--whoa--slick thick palate, oily like whoa with tons of winey characteristics--few tannins but lots of grapes and fig, finishes sticky yet also somehow dry. Bottom line--too much anise and cola for me, but drinks like a massive beer.

Well crafted Imperial Stout. Thanks ClarkVV. Very dark black color, moderate brown head that quickly dissipates. Appears to be highly viscous by the way it flows around the glass during a quick swirl. Aroma is most fruity, like prunes, dates with a dab of molasses. Light touches of burnt malts. I don’t pick up much whiskey flavors I might expect from the aging. Body is very syrupy. Wet, satisfying sweet finish.