Middle Ages Dragonslayer Imperial Stout

Brewed by Middle Ages Brewing
Style: Imperial Stout
Syracuse, New York USA

Coffee black pour with a foamy, tan head that settles into a thin, creamy cap. The aroma is rather subdued for such a big beer, revealing some nuttiness and a bit of chocolate but not much more. The body is thick and chewy, with sweet malts in abundance. Sugary chocolate, caramel, toffee, vanilla and roasted coffee blend nicely and lead into an alcohol filled finish. The alcohol leaves a bit of heat in my mouth, but other than that this is a pretty tasty Impy.

Tap at Drafting Room a while back. Pour wasa medium/thick old motor oil, black with a small brown head. Aroma was dark chocolate, bitter hops, and dark coffee. Flavors wre bitter hops up front, followed quickly by strong coffee and dark chocolate. The hops stay with you the whole way through the taste becoming more dominant again in the finish. IMO, the hop flavors and the chocolate roast didn’t complement each other as well as I had hoped.

Bottle from the Beer Yard. I can’t remember a period in time when I’ve had more great dark beers, and this is yet another. I’ve been wanting to try this one for awhile. Let me say that this may be the first Imperial Stout I’ve ever had that I would characterize as a Dry Imperial Stout. The pour is as black as Blackbeard’s pubes, with a perfect 1-finger brown head. The aroma sais by the nose with roasty dark malts, chocoff, hazelnut, molasses, a solid hop component. Reminds me a lot of FFF Alpha Klaus and Black Sun’s aroma. The flavor is very complex, with the roasty malts up front, followed by a huge backdoor hop component, and some molasses and hazelnuts. The palate gets drier and hoppier as it warms, but remains thick and rich and delightful. This beer will take its dry impy stout sword, and run it right through your slimey reptilian ass, you fire-breathing douchebag!

Beautiful opaque black body with a large firm brown head. Nose of bitter hops, chocolate, and alcohol. Taste of bitter hops, bitter chocolate, sweet dark malt, and alcohol. A little too bitter, and finish is too one dimensionally bitter. Nice, but clearly dominated by the Yeti.

Pours an opaque black with a frothy, well-lacing dark tan head. Dry roasty, dark chocolate and light ash dominate the aroma. Body starts with sweet caramel and roasted malts turning much more bitter and slightly alcoholic toward the bittersweet finish. Has some lingering dark chocolate and sticky caramel flavor. A decent imperial stout.

Bottle. Small tan head that mostly diminished with minimal lacing, opaque, no visible carbonation, and a black hue. Nose was chocolate, roasted coffee, and dark fruits. Flavor was sweet, dark fruits, coffee and a hint of chocolate. Smooth palate. Medium body.

Pours with a frothy, dense, three finger thick, rich chocolate brown color. The beer itself is fairly viscous and is an opaque black color. The aroma is a rich mix of sweet burnt fruit notes (burnt raisins, burnt figs, and a bit of burnt prunes), and almost smokey chocolate note, a lightly roasted coffee note and just a touch of alcohol.

The taste is sweet and rich, with a nice heft to it, the combination of which is not cloying. Notes of burnt espresso beans, soft vanilla notes, and a creamy encompassing mouthfeel combine to make this beer almost like a rich, lightly sweet flavored coffee. A bit of roast grain astringency is in the finish and is joined This is quite the enjoyable tipple, while perhaps not the most complex of Imperial stouts, the flavors in this beer just meld together quite well. Certainly a beer that is much more enjoyable than the sum of its parts might suggest.

This is a beautiful beer while being poured and while in the glass. Excellent retaining head and nice, but sparse lacing. Deep, dark brownish black, with a creamy light brown head. Roasty aroma, black cheeries and chocolate. Slightly smkoed malt flavor, graham crackers, dark fruits, licorice, molasses, subdued complexity and medium bodied but very delicious and easy to drink.