Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #12 - Imperial Stout

Formerly brewed at Harpoon Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Boston, Massachusetts USA

Dark brown with a good sized medium brown head, vanishes leaving good lacing. Nose of sweet malts. Nose of dark roasted malts and chocolate. Taste is sweet dark roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, toffee, and a slightly bitter finish. Good complexity, not much intensity. Probably the best I’ve had from Harpoon.

Bottle. Very dark, black, not see through. Small (disappointing) tan head. Roasty aroma, chocolate and slight caramel. Flavor is about equal with chocolate and caramel, is pleasantly sweet, and has a roasted bitter finish, and slight hop aftertaste. I personally think it could use a little more oomph, but it is definitely a good beer, and very drinkable. It is more complex than I think people are giving it credit for. Sure it isn’t exactly what I think of with the best Impy Stout, but it is a good beer.

Ebony with brown hues. Big soapy bubbles settle into a clumpy beige head. Aroma of coffee, roasted grains, plasticlike phenols, and Ringwood yeast. Fairly unclean. Feisty, big bubbled carbonation. Dainty notes of roasted barley and caramel covered nuts highlight the pleasantly harsh roasted malts. Light hints of tar and bittersweet chocolate exude for a brief moment, only to be lifted right from the palate by the plasticlike phenols, depositing in its wake an acrid mess of char and phenols. Finishes wetly grainy ands flabby with brash phenols and a suggestively sharp char/burnt cookie underlay. Not even a year in the bottle (properly stored, I should note) and this is already showing obvious signs of infection (overactive carbonation and rampant phenols). Infection aside, a rather boring and straightforward “imperial” stout is all that lies beneath.

Aroma is of bakers chocolate, spice, coffee and vanilla. Robust coffee and unsweetened chocolate flavor, smooth and lasting in the mouth. The ABV was more pronounced as it warmed. Very good beer.

Dark brown body capped by a light brown head. Sugary, lightly roasty aroma, not much in the hop aroma department. The flavor reminds me of dark chocolate. A little fruitiness leads into a burnt bitter finish. Smooth creamy palate.

Poured a very dark brown almost opaque with a ruby hue and thin brown head. Tan oily legs. The aroma was sweet and roasty with smoke, fruit and light chocolate. Sweet and roasty flavor with a moderate bitterness. Medium to full bodied with a silky mouthfeel.

Dark brown body with a receding tan head. Aroma of dark chocolate, burnt fruit, roast, light oxidation, and some alcohol. Flavor has some bitter roast and a strong hoppy finish. A basic American imperial stout. Decent, but unexceptional.

Deep brown with a small light brown head. Nose has a pronounced molasses scent, with some licorice, raisin and date. Medium coffee and some fruit - black cherry, and raisin and an underlying rumlike flavor. Body seems a bit thin. Light bitter and fruit in the finish. Intereseting take on the style - reminds me of a thinner De Dolle stout.