Left Hand Oak Aged Imperial Stout

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

Pours black with a small off white head. Very roasty aroma, defintely get that oak in there too. Some coffee and chocolate as well. The taste is very sweet, almost sugary, very roasty, coffee, chocolate, and oak. Nice and full on the palate, big taste. The finish is very chocolatey, big carbonation. with a profound sweetness to it. Good brew.

Bottle courtesy of Jimbowood: This was damn nice, but I would have liked a stronger oak flavor. In a night full of barrel aged beers, this beer didn’t really stand out. Could possibly get a lot better with time. As it is now, it’s just a decent Impy stout.

Beer 20 of Bartzilla’s Death Metal Beer Tasting 6/30/07. Shared with Bartzilla, Naven, BikesandBeer and others. 2007 vinage 750ml bottle. I think this was the 2nd to last beer I had before I had a date with a porcelain lady. Pretty nice overall could have been deeper in flavor as I recall.

2007 bottle. Corked & caged. Poured out a deep chocolate brown, with a thin mocha head. Aromas are of vanilla beans, oak boards, strong coffee aromas as well. Flavors are of coffee, malts, musty hops. Medium mouthfeel, decent body. Alcohol is definitely present. Very warming. I’d have done better rating/drinking this in the winter time.

2007 edition. Bottle. Poured a blackish-brown color with a medium light-brown head. Pleasant but faint aroma of wood, malt, and chocolate. Excellent full mouthfeel. Flavor is nice, with strong dark malt and oak tones and a dark chocolate finish. Smooth beer. I wasn’t that excited about this, but a nice offering from Left Hand.

By far the best imperial stout that I have tried. This is everything I look for in an imperial stout. Chocolate head, black, very rich smell. Chocolate, and sweet coffee smell. Smells like berries as well? Amazing smell. My favorite imperial stout by far. The alcohol warms me up. The chocolate, wood, and coffee are all distinct and make this beer amazing. Very malty and smooth. I consider this a sweet stout, sweet upfront but woody and coffee bitters dominate in the aftertaste. A perfect stout for me. The vanilla is also noticeable, I believe this is due to the wood barrel aging. The wood flavor is most noticeable as the beer warms up. The raisins also start to show as the beer warms up. This beer taps into so many distinct flavors that keeps me guessing. The alcohol is great and warms me up. Better than Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout.

Marietta, Ga. - Bullocks Wine and Spirits, corked 750 ml bottle. Dark tar colored black pour with a creamy mocha colored head. Cocoa notes in the aroma and it leans to the sweet side. Flavor is dominated by chocolate with some meaty side notes. Pick up hints of teriyaki sauce but not overpowering. Some vanilla finds its way into the back end. Mouthefeel is thick and pleasant, but not as chewy as an Imp should be. Overall, an enjoyable drinking experience - just did not blow me away.

Sometimes failure breeds success. It can be a total fluke of luck, or it can be inspiration derived from a number of aborted attempts. When it comes to Left Hand’s superb Oak Aged Imperial Stout I like to think it is borne from its grisly adjutants: the Deep Cover Brown Ale, the Black Jack Porter and the Sawtooth Ale. These were hideous stabs at brewing. The lessons learned, however, were vital, and when it time for the creators to put their hand to a serious oak aged imperial stout they produced wonders where before they had stitched together abominations. I envision divine hands kneading together a figure of brightly shining flesh, high above a wracked, torn playground of moaning, twitching limbs and cords. This beer rises above all else, and of its own accord brings repentance to the brewers at Left Hand. My ire resolved, it is time for the review. This leviathan brew begins with a heavy sigh as it crashes into the glass, with the typical character of a deep, dark Imperial stout. I see black, brown, maybe even a third shade of brown, but mostly black. It is the dragon’s maw. The head is of a more gentle demeanor, smooth and soft like skillfully cut angel food cake. The aroma is equally soft, caressing the nostrils with a rich sweetness familiar of high percent dark chocolate bars. Other strong notes of coffee, peat, red grapes and vanilla bolster the already robust and tantalizing smell. When I smell this beer it reminds me of the distinct scent of old northern European castles, slightly wet, slightly green, and damp but in a healthily senescent way. The taste flourishes under the heavy standard set by the aroma. It opens with a mellow grape and chocolate sweetness, where it begins to sparkle, growing into a swooning coffee crescendo. This marks the finest coffee flavor I have ever encountered in a beer, both rich and balanced, sweet and bitter. Meanwhile, somewhere between the middle and back of the mouth a wet temperate rain forest flavor swells into the foreground, and then pops into a slow motion free fall. The descent before the impact has inklings of teriyaki, brown sugar and cumin, composing a savory-sweet amalgam that slowly withers away. By the time it finishes I’m left agog. My palate is conversing with my brain, detailing the story bit by bit with a frenzied obsession, while the brain furiously scribbles the oratory into embedded memory. This is a beer I don’t want to forget, and a hearty thanks to Left Hand for providing that. Truly this is an elegant flair in brewing beer, both dark and fulfilling, and beyond that, a drinkable exercise in stupendous human creativity.