Holy Mackerel Mack in Black

Brewed by Florida Beer Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Melbourne, Florida USA

It’s pretty black. Aroma is chocolatey, lightly fruity, lightly coffeeish. Juicy fruit - too vague to specifically pinpoint as pomegranate - overtop a richly roasty, chocolatey, Bustelo-ish body. Lots of roast bitterness bordering on astringency. The mouthfeel is a bit odd - fairly thin but the malts themselves taste syrupy. Decent effort - good to see Gordash going in a nice assertive direction.

12 oz bottle. 2008. Pours a deep dark brown almost black with a thinning fizzy head. aroma is dark chocolate nuts, fruity esters, and some pomegranate juice and a finishing mineral almost metallic cherry pit character. More pomegranate fruit in the flavor but not out of control just fits in ok- with chocolate malts, sweet caramel and other fruits like figs and apple. Slightly more metallic and astringent in the finish. I remember the tap version being a bit fuller bodied and not quite as astringent but my notes are only from the bottle.

Bottle from Daniel. Thanks. Not really sure what to say about this one. Pours out a nice black color with a good sized tan head on it. Smell is fruity as shit, full of pomegranate and thats really about it. I didnt pick up alot of the roasted malts and coffee / chocolate flavors that I have become accustomed to. Taste was sweet, pretty fruity, somewhat thin and left me questioning if this is really an imperial stout. Different, but that isnt to say that different is always good. Perhaps something that may become thicker with age and lose some of that raspberry jelly fake smell / taste. Thanks Daniel. This was an ultra rare gem pulled from the farthest reaches of the cellar.

2008 Bottle Date; Sampled August 2009 This beer is served lightly chilled with a vigorous pour into my 25cl tulip glass. The head that forms is a bit bigger than a fat finger and is a nicely browned, dark tan color. The aroma smells of sweet dark chocolate, anise, coffee liquor, cocoa, some umami-driven savory notes (a hint of tamari), ample toasted bread crust notes, a touch of burnt acidity, browned crackers, fresh licorice chews as well as some alcoholic spiciness. The nose is quite a bit more interesting than I was expecting, it can be a touch sharp at times, but the complexity is definitely quite nice. It does seem to lose much of the complexity after a minute or so though and begins to pick up notes of lacquer, acrid burnt grain, and even a touch of acetone.

A prickly carbonation competes with a touch of viscousness in the body; while this is not overly rich for an Imperial Black Ale (whatever that is), it is definitely a sipping beer, it actually seems to have a fairly light body. There is a certain savoriness to the flavor here, but at times it can seem a touch too much like acetone. There is some acidity here from the roast character (and perhaps some tartness from the pomegranate), but there is also a substantial toasted, dark grain character, a dark malt sweetness (which combines with the roast to make me think of a coffee liquor), a roasted whole-grain cracker flavor, some smoked cocoa notes and perhaps even a touch of smoked peat saltiness. There is some solid chocolate character here. The finish has some phenols and fusels that linger on the palate a bit; a touch turpene in character, but with some clove character as well.

An interesting beer, not what I was expecting at all. This does have a fair amount of complexity to it at this point; at times this is a plus, but at others this beer just doesn’t seem to be able to hold everything together in a balanced fashion. Still this is interesting enough that I am quite happy to be sipping on this right now.

Brown-black beer that is loaded with cocoa and chocolate. There is a bit of chocolate syrup, cocoa and a very light earthiness. A touch of tartness and fruit before you start getting even more rich roastiness. An interesting take on the Impy stout style.

12oz bottle. Poured deep ruddy brown with almost zero head. The aroma picked up sour pomegranate and cherry pit notes upfront, giving a bright, funky twist to the style.. semi-sweet chocolate and a hint of copper behind (the latter may have been related to the fruit).. the interesting factor outweighed the I-was-kinda-feeling-a-traditional-deep-roasted-no- The flavor opened with tart pomegranate juice, then opened up to more roasty malt character than the nose (blend of sweet and darker chocolates, mild coffee bitterness, and a pinch of brown sugar).. the fruit juice outweighed the chocolate by a little on the back-end and through the finish.. bright overall feel to it. Medium-bodied and tangy on the palate with a sweet underlying impression.. a little tacky on the finish.. intriguing brew that isn’t in the same league as the better imperial stouts.

I did not think that this was an imperial stout when I first tried it; this is good and bad. Bad in that the palate is a lot thinner than I would expect from an impy stout. Good in the fact that you really don’t notice the higher ABV at all and it is quite drinkable. Thin roasted flavor with a little pomegranate acidity and astringency on the finish. Not bad, all in all.

Bottle, thanks daknole! Pours opaque blackish brown with a scant and fading tan head. Aroma of coffee, blackberries, and a touch of chocolate. Creamy medium body and active carbonation. Lightly sweet taste of coffee, biscuit. Dry espresso finish that is a bit tart. Pretty nice, but I would enjoy it more if it wasn’t over-carbonated.