Left Hand Imperial Stout

Brewed by Left Hand Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Longmont, Colorado USA

*DNM/WNB* aroma: when i close my eyes and smell this beer i see nothing that would be ok to type on this site. i will try again. i saw a child falling out of a pine tree and landing in a pile of burnt caramilized candy canes. App: when i look at this beer i see an old.. OLD ford pick up rusted next to an out building with grass growing up around it.. maybe cause i thought of old lookin oil.. the kind that has stained grand pappy’s hands. Flavor: when i close my eyes and taste this beer i see, grand pappy enjoying a steak, oh how he loves it! but really .. in the gourmet world.. its just a cheap over cooked a1 covered thing. but for grand pappy.. its as good as livin can get. palate: when i close my eyes and feel this beer with my mouth i see gravel.. huh.. thats kinda boaring...is that all?? OA: when i close my eyes and think about this beer i see a trip down memory lane.. a trip that reminds me why i moved to a newer nicer part of town.

Bottle. Nice artwork. Pours a black body with a tan head. Aroma is sweet chocolate malt, roasted coffee, vanilla, and some etoh. Flavor is sweet with some chocolate coming through you can get a grip on the etoh too.

2007 Bottle - Pours almost black with little head, aroma is roasted malt, molassas, tobacco, vanilla, slight cofee...taste burns a bit, high alcohol and overt, but still a great treat, complex flavour that follows the aroma, and slightly sweet, but good enough for me to drink on the first of June and forget about the weather....I’d bet the BA version would be a treat...

Pours dark brown with practically no head. Smells like roast coffee. Again, I dont’ drink coffee. Flavor starts off good with roasted malt, and hints of chocolate but quickly tuns bad with tons of alcohol and strong coffee. I mean why not just put everclear in your coffee. Come on people; It’s rather smooth, albeit potent, and only burns a little on the finish. "Imperial" and "Stout" are two words that really don’t belong in the same sentence together.

Chocolatey aroma with strong roasted malts with hints of vanilla. Pours black with a thin tan head. Smooth chocolate flavor with vanilla, cafe au lait, sweet with a strong roasted flavor. Very nice.

(Sample from January 26, 2007 Beer Club Meeting; Sample from May 16, 2008 Beer Club Meeting) One of the most common/easy to find decent imperial stouts on the shelves. Deep, dark amber-black color. Lovely head. Sweetness in the aroma. Cold and stirring on the tongue. Alcohol taste is present, but not uncomfortably.

Pours very dark brown with a thin mocha head and negligible lacing. Nose is of chocolate, coffee and malt with a hint of vanilla. Taste reiterates the nose and brings in caramel and a lot of molasses - a bit too much for me. Mouthfeel is creamy and smooth. Aftertaste is mild, but long-lasting. Alcohol is very well hidden.

12 oz. bottle, , bottled date of 01-18-08 but it is hard to read because the ink runs a bit, so, this ale is pretty fresh, pours dark brown and dark ruby with ruby around the edges, has some tan and darker tan bubbles, when I swirled the glass a fine bubbled small head covering appeared, I found no sediment in the bottle, aroma of dark roasted malt, some chocolate and hints of dark chocolate, there are some dark fruit and alcohol aromas to but it is not much on the nose, flavor of dark roasted malt and some chocolate, I did not get the impression I was dinking an imperial stout, this came across as a de-tuned Impy Stout, faint alcohol on the tongue not much though, I will say the over 10% alc. is hidden well, some brown sugar and molasses spring out as it warms up, not a lot flavor for an Impy, did I get a bad bottle? Has a thin mouth feel for an Imperial Stout, this doesn’t have the oomph or fullness I expect from a Impy stout, also, I do not get the creaminess and smoothness I have find in other Impys, this is the palest looking Impy I have sampled to, I am surprised how high of a rating this has on RB, I was kind of disappointed with this, oh well.