Nils Oscar Imperial Stout

Brewed by Nils Oscar
Style: Foreign Stout
Nyköping, Sweden

Bottle from Sams in Chicago. Pours a clear black body with a tiny beige head. The aroma is mostly burnt coffee and sweets. The taste was full of bitter burnt flavors; toffee and coffee beans, some plum and overall a smooth and tasty stout. A bit too thin, but very enjoyable.

Bottle courtesy of Tony at Oldsmar Tap House: Pours pitch black with an off-white ring of head. Aroma is ashy, like day-old campfire, some burnt coffee and malts. Flavor is smooth chocolate malt throughout, and a tinge of soy sauce over roasted coffee. An odd brew, but enjoyable.

Bottle courtesy of Tony @ OTH. Color is black, brownish head. Aroma is roasted with notes of dark fruits and malts. Taste is malty / coffee, pleasant roastiness and dry finish.

Pour is nearly black, dark cherry color with a fairly small, light tan, pillowy head which is mostly diminishing and leaves minimal lace. Nose is fair for the style, kind of simple; notes of milk chocolate and maple with lighter notes of maple wood, smoke, burnt caramel, and faint burnt toast. Flavor is a bit different with the same milk chocolate and maple notes but with a moderate coffee acidity and lighter notes of smoke and burnt caramel. Palate is just over medium, a bit watery, and soft to lively. Finishes fairly short with a moderate acidty lingering, maple, and light notes of smoke. Nothing really bad to say about this one, but it was pretty weak as an imp and not dry enough as a foreign stout. Simple, drinkable, enjoyable.

Bouteille de 330 ml achetée chez Julio’s Liquors (Westborough, MA). Arôme: Odeur de café et de caramel avec une pointe de noix. Apparence: La couleur est noire opaque avec une faible densité de bulle. Présence d’un mince col beige crémeux et d’une fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de chocolat, de café et de petits fruits foncés. Longue durée de l’arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est plein avec une texture crémeuse. Moyenne effervescence en bouche. Présence de café en arrière goût. (Rating #1812)

Pours thick with a quickly dissapearing off-white head covering a black body. Aroma of molasses, wood, smoke, burnt malts, a little bit of soy, and light liccorice. Taste is bitter cooking chocolate, and burnt malts with very subdued coffee. Syrupy mouthfeel with somewhat lively buubles. A bit chalkey at the end.

11.2 oz bottle

I have been cellaring this for a few months. Deciding now was as good a time as any to try one of my two bottles I cracked it open. What I discovered was a solid imperial stout. It may not be spectacular or as complex as the big boys but I can’t wait to see what a few years does to the other bottle.

Aroma / Appearance - A short lived ashen head decorated a deep black body that swirled gracefully around my snifter. Without being oily a nice layer of lacing gave it some presence. Peanut butter, coffee and smoke are the strongest players in the aroma. Cherry, chocolate and dark malts assist in forming a rich dense but not cloying experience.

Flavor / Palate - The impression of strong black coffee shocked my tongue into paying closer attention. Warm smoke, raspberries and dried expresso beans were next. The third wave was chocolate and more coffee. Lingering after the coffee the chocolate finish gave a nice closure to the taste. While not my favorite imperial stout this was certainly well made and deserving of praise. Give it a shot if you can track it down.

Bottle. Dark brown colour with lasting brown head. Flavor is roasted, coffee, burnt caramel, but still sweet. Flavor is, again, roasted with coffee, but with chocolate and wood tones as well. Very good, and with a relatively low ABV of 7%, not that strong.