Harpoon 100 Barrel Series #12 - Imperial Stout

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

Date: 06/07/2006
Mode: Bottle
Source: Tasting

black with brown edges, frothy beige head, nice lace, sweet licorish aroma with some roasted character, big creamy body, nice light roasted, simple but very tasty

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 8/10; Overall: 16/20
Rating: 3.8/5.0
Drinkability: 9/10
Score: **4

(22oz bottle) Brown-black body with medium brown head, nice lacing. Aroma is medium sweet, roasty, chocolate, some apple(!), light vinous. Minimal flavor up front before a burst of flavors mid-tongue through to the swallow. Taste is moderately sweet, chocolate, some vinous, light apple, roast. Smooth medium-full body. Ok, but the sweetness and that apple quality detract.

22oz bottle shared courtesy of dickinsonbeer (thanks!). Poured a dark black color with a smaller sized off white head. Aromas of roast, chocolate, smoke, and some dark fruits. Tastes of plums, raisins, roast and chocolate. Struck me as a bland and mellow version of a RIS.

Bottle thanks to OldGrowth: Pours a barely transparent dark brown with a thin-lacing wispy tan head. Sweet toasty dark caramel malty aroma has a touch of dark fruity complexity. Body starts with a good, sweet viscous dark caramel maltiness and some light plum flavor and a sweet malty finish. Perhaps a bit underattenuated, but otherwise a pretty decent imperial stout.

Pours dark brown with a tan head. Smells peppery with coffee and chocolate notes. Tastes of roasted malt, nuts, chocolate and coffee.

Bottle from Half Time. Deep onxy pour with tan head. Aroma of rich dark patent malt, figgy fruit, chocoff. Tastes rich and roasty malty, with chocoff, figs, prunes, and slight nuts. Nicely done.

22 oz bottle from City Market in Burlington VT, "100 Barrel Series" session 12. Pours viscous, syrupy molasses color with a moderate creamy head decaying into a thin dark ring, no real lacing...roasty, sharp nose of unsweetened chocolate, a touch of new leather, and interestingly, black tea...sweetness shows up in the body, chocolaty, cherry-tinged and lightly nutty, quite light on the roastiness and very smooth, almost velvety at first...towards the finish a bit of charred wood gets thrown into the oily liquid, providing a bit of welcome rustic character and smokiness...this is in no way mindblowing, but given the usual mediocrity of this brewer a nice chage. Also doesn’t come off as terribly "imperial", more of a strongish sweet stout overall.

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.