Great Lakes Blackout Stout

Brewed by Great Lakes Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Cleveland, Ohio USA

Rated 4/7/06: Seasonal brew from Great Lakes, I was looking forward to it’s release and grabbed a four pack soon after they hit the shelves. Great Lakes makes some very nice beers including this Imperial Stout. The beer is dark black once poured into my glass a thick head is formed. The head does become much thinner, but it sticks around for the duration of the brew which is highly unusual for a strong imperial stout, a real nice touch. There is moderate lacing. The aroma is a usual mix of roasted malts with touches of coffee and hops, but then the chocolate malts come alive and seem to dominate the thick aroma. Aside from the abundance of chocolate malts the alcohol can actually be detected with the nose, it seems to let you know that this beer needs to be enjoyed slowly. The mouthfeel is the one aspect where this beer falls short of greatness. There is an immediately recognized thinness to the beer especially thin for an imperial stout. The finish is satisfying and relatively smooth. Great taste with this one. All of the dark roasted malts create a nice flavor that is accented with a generous amount of hops that lead right into a well deserved bitter aftertaste. The chocolate malts also stand out in the overall flavor, but the coffee is more abundant than originally detected with the aroma. For an Imperial Stout Great Lakes has created a wonderful example, not the best around but surely worth trying. 5/12/06...Enjoyed the other two tonight mixed in with some other cellared Impy Stouts. Wow I upped my ratings in a couple categories, and for good reason. This is the most Aggressive Stout I have had, Absolutely killer.

This imperial stout pours a deep eclipse black color from a 12oz bottle. Small to medium sized beige head. Aroma is chocolate, roasty malts, vanilla, and some hops. A medium to full bodied imperial stout. Malts are roasty and chocolate, touch of vanilla. Hops are earthy and floral. Nice balance. Hints of coffee and roasty malts throughout, which intensifies as it warms. Nice stout perhaps a touch sweet. Mouthfeel is full. Finish is clean and dry. Aftertaste is slightly bitter with some malt sweetness.

Re-rate 3/28/08 Pours a pitch black with a medium mocha head that fades thin, leaving strings of bubbly lacing. Aroma is dark roasted coffee, with some light chocolate. Tastes about the same but finishes slightly bitter with the warming of a bit of alcohol.

4-pack, best by 07-03-07. Opaque black-brown with a large and sticky brown head that lasts. Aroma is campfire coffee, campfire wood, sticky campfire-burnt chocolate, and slight metallic hop. Flavor is espresso, smoked malt, fruity-menthol cough drop, and alcohol-espresso. Palate is sticky in a good way; somewhat smooth (although some fizzy CO2 flareups) and has some alcoholic tingle on the end. Faint alcohol warming finish is nice. Quality beer, but the overwhelming dry-smoked coffee aroma and alcoholic taste is a bit much after just half a bottle.

Pours a dark brown with rich brown head that fades quickly. Aroma is bitter chocolate, roasted malt, ahem "resin", and some floral hops and some alcohol. Taste is much the same with the alcohol pushing the other flavors to the side. I must admit, I expected more but this lacks the complexity of really good impy stout. Meh.

A thumper...pours almost black with very little head. Almost no carbonation. Strong coffee flavor with some smoky sweetness. High quality. Nice, but not one to drink all night. Bought in a 4-pack in Howland, Ohio.

12 oz bottle. Blind tasting side by side with Rasputin. Pours dark black… opaque except for a brownish-red glow around the edges when held up to light. No head. Smells and tastes overwhelmingly like bitter dark chocolate. Very nice.

Bottle courtesy of Jdoolin : Poured a deep black color stout with a nice foamy head with great retention and lacing. Aroma of chocolate and coffee malt is well balance with a medium hoppy finish. Taste is really well balance between chocolate malt, some dry roasted malt and a medium bitter finish. Body was quite full with some adequate carbonation. Overall, I thought this was well done and alcohol was not perceptible. I might have lack some complexity but it was still quite enjoyable.