McKenzie 5 Czars Imperial Stout

Formerly brewed at McKenzie Brew House
Style: Imperial Stout
Glen Mills, Pennsylvania USA

Bottle shared at the First Annual Florida Ratebeer Gathering. <P> Aroma was very roasty with more coffee than chocolate in the nose. Deep black with a dark mocha head and very lively carbonation for an Impy. Very roasty with a spot on thickness and subtle dark chocolate notes followed by a creamy almost milk-like sweetness in the finish and a bitter lingering aftertaste. This walked the tastebuds through a nice range of flavors. Wish i could get more.

Bottle from Eyedrinkale, shared in good company, 10/8/2005. Pours a nice deep, dark chocolate brown-black. Unfiltered and all, with a prominent, but fully dissipating light tan head, creamy and providing for much lacing. Aroma has oats, milk chocolate, faint dark fruits (plums, prunes sort of thing) and a strong helping of coffee with milk and sugar. A very even, lovely aroma, with little hoppiness and a mild, easygoing roasted barley. Yeast is fairly apparent, giving a dry, musty, old sort of feel, but is actually mostly covered up by the sweet chocolate. It really gives it a nice, raw, natural feel to it, highlighting how honestly brewed this stuff is.
Flavor is a strong mix of chocolate and coffee. In the background I heard rumblings of "this stop is every bit as good or better than Peche Mortel". Well, even though Eyedrinkale was wrong ;) it is a nice, drinkable coffeeish stout. More approachable than Peche. But it also dosent have coffee added, so you shouldnt compare the two. What it does have is a lovely balance of chocolate sweetness, mild roastiness and a wonderful, unfiltered, mouthfeel. I don’t want to say grainy, or gritty, because that would unfairly discount the fact that this stuff is smooth, silky and fluid. But it’s got substance, you can put your teeth in it. And speaking of substance, did anyone else catch how mellowed out, but unoxidized it is?? Radioactive carbon-dating places this beer at a early 2004 brewing. So it could be lightly oxidized, loose and watery, but it certainly is not. Don’t confuse drinkable, mellow and fluid with watery and thin. Granted, for an imperial stout it does have only a medium body, but the flavors are well-executed, just as in the Raven porter. Tempted to give it a five for appearance, as Martin’s glass retained the head well. Anyways, appearance isnt that big of a deal. This stuff is a knockout. A real philosopher’s stout. But I always say that about McKenzie’s stuff.

750ml shared by the ever-generous jeffin7: This was sampled side-by-side with Dark Lord to close out the tasting for those left standing. Black and opaque color, no messing around here, with a dark brown head that isn’t huge but sticks on top of the beer the entire time I’m drinking this one - and I took my time. Aroma is sharp roast (more than the dark lord), peppery yeast, burnt-charred flavors, chocolate and grapes. Taste is surprisingly clean and crisp compared to the dark lord which is more silky and thick. There’s flavors of roasted malt, vinous chocolate, grapes, and hints of piney hops. Clean & crisp mouthfeel, small bubbles, lively carbonation.

Motor oil black with a light brown head. Nice aroma of roasted and burnt malt. Flavor has strong notes up front of dark roasted malt, chocolate and some coffee too. Roasty finish. Mouthfeel is medium with surprisinly very lively carbonation. Overall, very nice stuff.

Couleur noire ébène, mousse brune s’effondrant rapidement. Arômes de caroubes, de gomme baloune au chocolat, et de différents Esther de levures semblant d’origine belge. Grains de café, raisins noirs, gaufrettes au chocolat et biscuits sont bien agglomérés ensemble et deviennent rapidement un vrai régal. La présence en bouche rappelle aussi celle de quelque interprétation belge du style. Corps d’épaisseur moyenne, texture huileuse, carbonatation très active et piquante.

Pours a black color with a light brown head. Aroma of chocolate, hops and roasted malt. Flavor of chocolate, roasted and biscuity malt, hops and belgian yeast with a very long lasting bitter finish. Medium body, dry mouthfeel, very lively carbonation.

Man! What kind of douche nozzle helped brew this cluster fuck? Complete and absolute piece of shit. Now that I got that out of my system. Decent brew. Deep black brew with a thick dollop of tan head. I think the head is due to the over carbonation(imo). Fizzy body detracts from a less then stellar offering. If this had been presented as a different style it probably would have rated higher.

Shared with Heemer77. 750mlbottle. Served at 60.5°. Black with mocha colored head. Chocolate malt, sourish aroma. Really coats the glass. Flavor is choclate, coffee, some sweetness. I loved this. I was also well on my way to getting extremely drunk. Thanks to BuckNaked for the bottle.