Great Lakes Blackout Stout

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

12oz bottle from 05, i believe about 18months old now. pours a pitch black black with tan head. aroma seems to have faded since fresh with mild sweet chocolate notes. flavor is very balanced for an impy, hops take a back seat with age, but chocolate and coffee notes seem to have faded instead of come more forward. i liked this at 12 months but it seems to only go downhill from there. will rerate a fresh bottle.6/4/6/3/14=3.3..

7/27/07, fresher bottle, pours black with khaki head. nose very roasty and coffee with milk aroma. flavor is roasty, coffee, slightly soured, grainy, some dark fruits. lacks a real chocolate presence. carb is almost fizzy, body a tad thin. tasty but over rated and really a run of the mill impy.3.6.

3/9/08, on tap at the maproom, its been awhile since i’ve had this and i’ve never had it on tap so why not. i re-discovered why this is a run of the mill imperial stout, okay, perhaps above average comparatively, but really nothing special. the nose offered nothing of interested, flavor rather roasty with mild chocolate and dark fruit notes. i think this is one of those beers that was always pretty good but nowadays struggles against stiffer competition. 6/4/7/4/14=3.5.

Very good but not as good as the barrel aged blackout stout. To me it was like a whole different beer. I wish I had tried this one first.

Bottled. BB Aug 10/06. Beer is very dark warm brown; nearly opaque. The head is small, light brown, frothy and diminishing.<P> First impression is warm, sweet and a little spikey. The aroma is malty with light notes of roasted grain, chocolate, espresso, trace of toasted nut; Hoppy with a light-to-moderate note of resin/pine, dried thyme; Yeasty with light notes of dough and basement; Miscellaney include a moderate amount of dried stonefruit and current, alcohol, trace of damp firewood and underripe banana.<P> The flavor is moderately-to-heavily sweet, moderately bitter, lightly acidic with a long, warm, moderately sweet, lightly bitter finish.<P> The body is full, the texture is velvety and the carbonation is lively.

12 oz bottle, via trade with several people. Thanks to those that sent me this. Nice malty smell. Pours a dark color, seems kind of watery. Taste is malty, with some chocolate and coffee flavors going on as well. Overall, this is a nice stout, but the mouthfeel is too watery for this style.

12 oz bottle, via trade, BB May 2004 bottle. Pours a black colored body under a small fizzy dark brown head that faded to a patchy film. Aroma is very dry and roasty with alot of chalkiness. A little burnt fruitiness, tons of coffee, dark chocolate, and a hint of caramel. Flavor is very roasty with alot of coffee, alcohol, and burnt fruitiness. Quite dry and chalky up front, but a little sweetness on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium to full bodied, with a lightly oily slick texture and moderate fairly soft fizzy carbonation. Finish coats the cheeks and lingers quite a while. A pretty nice beer, the age seems to have muted any hop presence that may have been there, but still no oxidation.

[Bottle from Beermouth tasted with the hop-bros at Jess’ cosy inn.] This eve we had a lot of stouts and thisones final place was in the lowest third, but therefore it was not a badone. I’ll definitely try it again.

Aroma of milk chocolate and some hops.Pours dark black with a huge tan head.Get a lot of coffee with some chocolate in the flavors.Mouthfeel is thick with a bitter finish that sticks around.

Awesome nose on this beer, I get tobacco, vanilla, sweet, fruity, a bit smokey, etc, lovely. Taste is awesome as well, I get hit with a sweet malt character, then a spicy hoppiness, then an awesome roasted malt/coffee finish that rounds this tasting of perfectly. I was more than impressed with this beer, thank you santa for hooking me up.