Michigan Brewing Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Michigan Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Webberville, Michigan USA

Bottle. Goodbar Beer Club. Nose is cocoa & roasty malt, cherries. Flavor is rich malt, tons of dark fruit,a but burnt but not overly so. Cherries, fruits alcohol, rich awesome.

sample. black with sizable tan head. dry coffee and dark chocolate. alcohol is noticeable but not totally overwhelming. the chocolately malts take center stage. has a solid edge to it - its a sipper.

12oz Handbottle. Light spritz as the cap is released. A high pour builds a good choco-hazle rim above a brown-black liquor. Aroma is intense. Deep, rich brandy-like nuttiness, melding with fruit cakes, sweet cream, and toasted chestnuts. Very volatile. Good roast and sweetness build in for chocolate cake-like complexity. Very nice. Flavor runs similar. A rich, deep creamy chocolate sugar, mature grape alcohols and a piquant note of nuttiness. It has dessert-like appeal, with rather silky, luxurious sweetness balanced by intense roast and a bit of dry hoppiness. Body is very complete. Not cloying or sticky, but oily dense in that GI Bourbon County Stout kind of way. Richly flavored and well textured. Alcohol is notable and that may be the only real fault of this beer, even though I feel it helps develop a lot of richness and depth. It does snare the nostrils a touch. Carbonation disperses the beer across the tongue nicely and lets it fade gradually into a sweeping run of fresh caramel, german chocolate cake, hazlenut truffles, and candied apples. Delicious. A well built Imperial Stout! Thanks a ton Sean!

Bottle without label that I personally picked up at the brewery. Body is dark, dark with a miminal head that dies to a film within a couple of minutes. Aromas are very smokey... burnt coffee, burnt brownies, peat, etc., and could be a little more full. First sip reveals that this is a very silky and thick drink... almost a bit too much so... flavors are less smoke domiated than I expected, there is almost a bit of a bourbon character to things and a lot of warmth from the ABV. Flavor has a touch of molasses and soy, which didn’t really manifest themselves in the nose. Overall, this is fairly nice and has some good things going, but lacks a bit of refinement and a finish that pulls it all together. I’ll be itnerested to see how bottle #2 treats me in a couple of years.

Sample @ WBE: This is one of the more memorable RIS I have had from a brewpub. Aroma of chocolate, toffee, and vanilla. Syrupy but not too thick, with a full roasted flavor that doesn’t finish too warm.

16 oz at brew pub...pours very dark black, very little head. chocolate in aroma and flavor, hides ots 14.3 very well. very nice ris.

draft- had a zingyness that is just plain unpleasant in this style, and a flavor characteristic I find way too often. Big time booze flavor and warmth. Overall, not bad, but not enough to distinguish itself in a hotly contested style category.

On tap. Pours almost black, though some light penetrates, with a thin brown colored head. Aroma is roast, chocolate, coffee. Flavor is chocolate, some roasty notes, coffee. Palate is medium to full, light carbonation, finished bitter. Just not tnough here for me to call this good. A little on the thin and watery side, and just not enough oomph to be a RIS. Somewhat dissapointing.