Midnight Sun Berserker Imperial Stout

Brewed by Midnight Sun Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Anchorage, Alaska USA

Bottle @ HotD Dock Sale via hannont, thanks Todd!!. Pours black with a tan ring. Nose is super rich, deep and full of tons of flavor. Taste is sweet and rich and full of major chocolate flavor. This is a big delicious imperial stout.

2008 vintage, 22oz. bottle, with thanks to NoonanDBarbarian on BA. Pours an inky black with a one finger creamy brown head, good lacing and retention. Aroma is milk chocolate, roasted malts, molasses, and only a hint of whiskey and oak. Flavor is more roast, chocolate, overripe dark fruits, and the whiskey/oak stays in the background, but remains very complimentary, nicely blended and everything going on works very well together. This opens up nicely as it warms, and overall is a very enjoyable IS, good stuff. Thanks again Brian!

22 oz bottle, 2005 Vintage. Pours a perfect pitch black body with a small one finger chocolate brown head that slowly fell to a thick ring. Looks like a really relaxed beer. Great nose, big and bold, but not brash. Huge roast, subtle barrel aging, molasses, light smoke, lots of dark fruits, bitter chocolate, vanilla, and very minimal alcohol. Maybe the most complex and versatile barrel aged Imperial Stout I’ve smelled. The flavor is just as amazing as the nose. The barrel aging and the beer combine to perfection, neither one dominates. The bourbon is really hardly noticable, it’s way more driven by the vanilla and charred wood than most bourbon beers. Dark fruits, roast, a nice accent of burnt malt, all mingled together up front to make one great flavor, not a collection of individual flavors. The only knock is that there may be a bit of ashiness very late in the finish, but it’s really not a big deal. Zero alcohol flavor or feel to this, amazing at 10% ABV. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a creamy soft texture and perfect soft fizzy carbonation. Never cloying or sticky in the least. Lingering roast and woody finish. I’ve never had such a smooth barrel aged Imperial Stout. This beer just sets a new standard of excellence for BA Imperial Stouts for me. This was just so well integrated, it was beautiful. Great beer on a great night.

very black with a dark brown head. milk chocolate aroma with a little alcohol. taste is chocolate, a little bitter, and a faunt black licorice finish

22 oz bottle, 2007. Dark brown with a trace of tan haze. Nose is carob fudge brownies and espresso. Drinks lighter than it look with sprightly carb but still retains a creamy feel. Taste is chocolate, coffee, licorice, molasses and burnt marshmallow, especially the smoky notes. Gets better as it warms. Amazing balanced complexity. Wow.

22oz bottle. big thanks to my alaskan buddy Tim for sending this one multiple times (i won’t get into the details)....deep dark, almost black pour with a thin light brown head that gravitated to the sides of the glass...aroma was certainly nice with a focus on bitter chocolate, an adequate roast component, and some wood and bourbon....roasted malt, chocolate cocoa, hints of toffee that become dominated by smoke and ash. adequate carbonation and decent mouthfeel.

Shared by Pantanap at Kanarama. He tried bringing things off my wants list and noticed this wasn’t on there. I agreed, this definitely should have been. Thanks kan, sounds like it was a lot of work to finally taste this. Poured pitch black. Aroma is some bourbon and roasty notes. Flavor is roasty as well, nutty, some nice balanceing hop character, smoky, vanilla and chocolate. I liked the fact that the bourbon didn’t dominate, still retained a nice bitterness throughout. Last one of the night, so I have a feeling that my taste buds did not do this justice. Nonetheless, a great beer. Thanks so much Kan.

22oz bottle, courtesy of jjpm74. Thanks, John! Pours a very dark, chocolate-brown color; light tan head with fine-bubbled lacing. Generous amounts of chocolate and nougat in the aroma; cocoa, intricate chocolate notes, and chewy nougat / sweetness. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: intense, chewy chocolate (milk, cocoa), bitter chocolate, nougat, and caramel; solid amounts of toasty oak and soft vanilla; intricate, soft vanilla-infused chocolate, coffee, and intricate yeastiness / breadiness. Lenghty finish: milk chocolate, cocoa, and toasty vanilla and nougat notes; reasonably dry / toasty end.