Pisgah Vortex II

Brewed by Pisgah Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Black Mountain, North Carolina USA

22 oz Bottle, from Jimbowood. Poured a super dark black color. Aroma is coffee, chocolate and roasted malts. Flavor is pretty similar. Smooth, full bodied beer. Pretty good.

22 oz bottle. Dark brown with a trace of head. Nose of chocolate and coffee. Medium body with a sharp, citrus carb. Taste is chocolate, coffee and molasses. Grapefruit peel, drying with dark roast.

Bottle at toncatcher’s. Pours black with a small beige head. Smells of toasted malts. Quite bitter, somewhat sweet. Malty aromas of coffee and a hint of caramel. Aromas of dark fruits (plums) and a bit of alcohol. Full bodied. Soft carbonation. Bitter finish with coffee aromas.

Bottle at Toncatchers tasting courtesy of Naven. Poured a black-brown color with a small tan head. The aroma was of sweet dark fruits; raisin, dates and plums. The flavor mirrored the aroma with a bit of sweetened coffee added.The mouthfeel was full and silky smooth. The finish was long with dark fruits lingering. Overall: A great stout.

Bomber, with a thank you shout out to Jmichael, appreciate it John Michael! Pours a dark brown with a nice one finger tan head, good lacing. Aroma is milk chocolate, coffee, molasses and some dark fruits. Flavor is roasty, with more chocolate, molasses, vanilla and some brown sugar. A bit subdued overall, but if you’re looking, what’s there is interesting and enjoyable.

bottle, from IHartbeer on beerinator. Good aroma, sweet. Molassess, milk chocolate, medium roasted grain. Clean orangy dark brown color, small head, minor lacing. Bitter sweet flavor, baking chocolate mainly. Medium body, smooth creamy mouthfeel, bittersweet finish. Enjoyable brew, tad hot & brash. flavor was nice rolling on tongue .

This has a really deep malt character that is quite noticeable as I pour; concentrated malt notes leaning towards umami-like richness. The beer pours with a frothy, initial three-finger thick, lightly browned, tan colored head. The beer is almost perfectly black and does not allow any light through no matter how close to the light I hold it. Heady alcohol aromatics mix with aromas of chocolate & coffee liquors. A significant burnt fruit character reminds me of a mix of prunes, figs and brown sugar encrusted raisins that have been left for too long under a broiler. Chalky cocoa aromatics, then well toasted bread, which then moves to a soft, deeply burnt, sharp roast malt character that is only really noticed if you really dig for it. I like how rich this beer is, but without being driven by the over-the top, sharp, acidic roasted grain notes that dominate so many American interpretations of this style. At times the mix of alcohol and fruit suggest an up front note of nail polish and methanol; luckily this is not too dominant.

Not as heavy bodied as I expected, though it is still pretty rich and chewy. Incredibly rich chocolate flavors are found in this brew; these chocolate notes are a mix of Dutch cocoa, chocolate extract and milk chocolate. A distinct fruitiness is noticeable here in the flavor, while not as burnt as the aroma might have suggested I get notes of prunes and figs. The finish is sweet from both the fruit-like malt and a touch of alcohol. There is also a dusty, slightly husky, toasted grain character in the finish that lingers for quite some time. A touch of dark-roast coffee notes are noticeable just a bit in the finish, but this note plays a lesser and lesser role as the beer warms up. The prune flavors get a bit more amplified as the beer warms up and it even picks up a bit of saltiness.

This is a pretty mellow beer for such a big imperial stout. Strangely the umami-like character I noticed initially in the aroma did not show up again in this beer really, including the aroma. I really like that it is focused more on the rich malt and chocolate character than the overly roasted, burnt character that is so often found in the style. Not a bad brew, somehow it is a bit too mellow. Said another way, this brew seems to work much better near 50°F / 10°C, as it gets much warmer & loses the carbonation texture it becomes a bit boring. So my recommendation is to share this with at least four other people so you get the best of this brew (don’t serve too cold though).

Thanks to jimbowood for this. i sat on this bottle and wonder now if it was a good idea. The brew seemed a bit thin and subdued. Pour was black with a very small brown head. Smelled like chocolate and roasty malt, but not very strong. Flavor was more of the same and a tad hot. Decent beer I would have loved to try fresh.