McNeills Imperial Stout

Formerly brewed at McNeills Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Brattleboro, Vermont USA

Pours opaque with a creamy brown head. Bready and heavily roasted nose. Med. Heavy body. Lots of roasted and black patent without quite enough caramel malts. Somewhat one-dimensionaal but still very solid. Nice drying bitterness in the finish.

Thanks, Phil, for getting hhold of this stuff. Pours almost opaque black with a nice brown head. Nose has coffee, anise, bakers chocolate, tart cherry. Full bodied and smooth. The flavor was rich and robust. Intense, even. Coffee, maltiness, the chocolate again, and a nice subtle hoppy finish. Damn good stuff.

dark motor oil black. brown creamy head. decent lacing, body leaves a stained glass residue. raspberry-like tart, roasted charcoal on top of chocolate, vanilla bean... complex and yummy aroma. Nice roasted and unobtrusive flavor... a bit of slightly bourbony burnt chocolate on top of caramel. Has a bitter, slightly grapefruit sweetness with some oak. Thin silky mouthfeel... good but a little thin. Overall, great beer... not huge, but that’s why its good... very subtle.

Bottle courtesty of Mr. Muzzlehatch, shared w/ Jason. Black body, dark brown thick head that dissapates to a large-bubbled soapy layer. Tons of dark, roasted malt in the aroma: sweet milk chocolate underbody with epsresso beans and acidic tartness on top. The acidity seems to be a consolodation of black malt and roasted grapefruit. Big malty flavor: winey/caramel sweetness underneath bitter coffee roast and acidic tartness. The finish has chewed-up coffee bean notes along with more grilled grapefruit. Thickish mouthfeel, slightly grainy feel to it. Warrants a 4.1 because it’s quite tasty but also not that original.

ReRate-Pours pitch black with a very oily pour. Rocky/soapy brown head with red tinges-very nice! aromas are wonderful-the whole thing here-roast, rum rasin, plums, dark fruits, char, chocolate, mocha, roast, smoke, and a little alcohol bite. some ash/woody thing going on as well. WOW< these flavors are intesne on the roast black patent malt. very bitter from all the malting here on the finish. my only gripe is the body is somewhat thinner than expected with that awesome pour. hmmm, maybe this was an older vintage than the last one i had and the body was a little thinner here. thats the only thing i mark down here! bottle-HUGE thanks to krisbierjaeger for giving this bottle to me back in july 2004. pours a pitch black hue with a nice tan head. huge roasty, coffee, chocolate-dark, caramel aroma. AWESOME! Chewy body with a nice roasty, coffee, expresso, dark chocolate flavors with a touch of nuttiness. Long burnt, roasty, coffee finish that lasts to eternity. I love big roasty imp stouts.

Opaque black body and deep tan head. Very open nose of dark chocolate and fresh roasted coffee. Same elements carry through to the flavor plus hazelnuts and a monstrous note of a mythical dark, earthy fruit. Long coveted, this beer did not disappoint. Thanks to the generosity of krisbierjaeger for giving this to TannerTavernboys and to Eric for sharing.

Sampled post DC gathering on 20 November. Firstly, and nothing to do with the beer at all, I think the amateurish looking labels on these McNeill’s beers are really cool. This was towards the end of a long line of big stouts on offer during the day and I must admit that a touch of palate fatigue may have set in by this late stage of the proceedings. Another heavily coffee accented stout. There’s clearly plenty of alcohol, but it’s not overwhelming. And, although its very rich and full, it has some hoppy bitterness to avoid getting too overblown. Good stuff.

Pitch black in colour with a huge thickness to it and a thin brown head. Aroma of roasted malt, coffee and a lot of fresh hops for the style! Full-bodied; Strong coffee & bitter roasted malt tastes with a good chocolate finish. Overall, great to try-many thanks to EyeDrinkAle for bringing this beer. I sampled this beer from a 65 cL bottle after the RB party at Founder’s in Alexandria, Virginia at Mike’s (the_beer_god) hotel room on 20-November-2004.