Odell Imperial Stout

355ml bottle (Beertopia, NE) - thanks Anna’s parents!
Jet black, tight beige head. Sweet roast malts aroma. Sticky cloying palate - very close to giving this a 2 but occasionally it was quite pleasant, so I refrained from punishing it. Vodka in the taste, that’s not a good start. There’s an almost porridgy burnt body. Some coffee, but some dodgy booziness too. Sounds not too good, I’ll admit, but it is fairly tasty in places. Their porter’s vastly better.

Dark brown color with ruby edges. Very light tan colored head. If the foam didn’t last well, I would have given this a 1/5 for an appearance score, but since it did, I will score it a 2/5. Imperial Stouts need to appear black in the glass and the head should be much a darker shade. Nose of powdered chocolate with a light hint of fruit. Nice, but very sparse and lacking key elements. Flavor wise, it’s pretty brash (this sample even has some bottle age), poorly flavored and lacking richness. Very sparse flavors of light chocolate and fruit. I don’t get it. Odell is too good of a brewery to bottle this timid tiny beer. For next bottling, call it "Imperial Stout Light."

lb4lb bought this round. Very low key, hard to detect, aroma. Mild chocolate/malt sweetness and a bit of roasted notes accompanied by the scantest hint of dark fruit. The body is full on black and supports a large, two fingers thick, but very bubbly though still creamy head. The first sip is roasted/burnt malt bitterness, dark fruit and black chocolate. Biting alcohol burn through the middle and finish. You really feel the alcohol. The mouth feel is on the thin side and the flavor, though not as muted as the aroma, is not very wide ranging or intense. Still, it’s fairly enjoyable on the whole, if not great.

Bottle (12oz) shared with HogTownHarry -- courtesy of Kevin. Pours black with an average size diminishing frothy tan head. Aroma of lightly roasted malt, chocolate, mild cold coffee, light hops and some lactic notes. Flavour’s not as good, it starts watery and finishes boozy with some roasted malt and coffee in the middle. This is only "Imperial" in the finish, where all the alcohol shows -- the rest, not very "Impy" at all. Just decent.

Bottle (12oz). Shared by blankboy. Pretty much opaque black pour, no light against the daylight getting through - average creamy mottle tan/beige head. Odd aroma - not much malt or alcohol, lots of fruit, cola and woodsmoke. The taste is very oily - creosote and molasses, burnt candy sugar and vodka - oddly I like it, even though it’s not much of an impy.