Holy Mackerel Mack in Black

Bottled, courtesy TheBeerSommelier. Pours opaque black with a medium-sized light brown head that is partially-to-mostly diminishing. Dark cocoa nose with some light roast (coffee) - rather light aroma overall. Mildly sweet flavor up front, a touch of berry sweetness sneaks in (but barely), followed closely with bittersweet cocoa, black coffee and a bit of tea. Finish is very, very nutty - peanuts and sunflower seeds. With further sips, the pomegranate is quite a bit more noticeable, and the nutty finish remains.

Aroma is all coffee with a hint of fruity sweetness that is almost unidentifiable if you don’t know the beer. The taste is a big fruity sweet malt stout with definite fruit sweetness added, but not necessarily noted as pomegranate. Not too bad, but not amaaazing.

Bottle. Pours a dark brown with a thick and creamy head. Aromas are not very full... a bit of chocolate and roasty malt, some fruit that is almost like blueberries more than pomegranate. and some cream. Pomegranate comes through very strongly in the flavor, however... kind of that bitter flavor that is almost like cranberries or something. Even though they are advertising that there is just a hint of it, it does quite a number covering the other flavors... You get hints of roasted malt and chocolate, but it’s more like they peek through around the edges than anything else. This is pretty decent for a fruit beer, but somewhat lacking for an imperial stout. Thanks Greg!

Pours a dark brown/black with a tan head. Aroma of coffee and alcohol. Flavor of chocolate with some hings of coffee and alcohol. Not very thick, but decent.

Thanks to ucusty. Bottle, 2008. Aroma burnt with notes of cocoa and alcohol. Flavor continues along the same lines with a lot of sweetness up front, alcoholic sort of sweetness, a mild acidity (the pomegranate?), and then an earthy, toasty, bitter finish. Rather thin for the style, also a bit chalky. No other recent ratings seem to note alcohol here, but I kept getting it... Aside from the finish, the beer was largely brash. Overall, ok.

Outstanding!!! Has a great pour with virtually no foam. Aroma has various hints of chocolate and dried fruits. Smooth taste with a little bitter after taste, which is most enjoyable.

2008 bottle. Pours black with a small bubbly tan head. Aroma of burnt malt and sweet pomegranate, which just didn’t mesh together for me. Very odd smelling and not in a good way. Flavor is still burnt with roasted malt and parmesean cheese and a sweet pomegranate finish. Meh, this is very underwhelming. The flavors are just bad. Why would you add pomegranate juice to an imperial stout? It was difficult to take even more than a few sips of this nasty beverage. 5/4/5/2/12 (2.8/5)

bottle poured into a snifter.... this is a nice beer.... unique and very enjoyable, which is a surprise to me coming from this contract brewer. a semi-transparent black pour which enters the glass much darker with a nice big tan head... it eventually settles down to a thin lacing which lasts throughout. some aromas of sweet malts, a touch of chocolate and a bit of yeast. medium body that carries some deeper notes of coffee, chocolate, dark fruit and a sweeter malt character... upon the finish the tart and lovely pomegranate juice comes forward to round off a unique twisted imperial stout. the juice adds a great element to this beer that one does not normally experience in this category... its on the border of being sour but develops into a more robust and layered experience.... very nice.