Portsmouth Kate The Great Russian Imperial Stout

#826, my daughters birthday, and a tribute to the 2009 Phillies on a great season regardless of the outcome in the next two games. I’ve been trying to get this beer for a while and finally landed one. 2009 bottle, pours a thick black, light tan waterfall leaving a tall frothy light brown head that laces the glass all the way down. Really strong aroma, hit me as I was pouring. Tart red wine, roasted malt, some vanilla and coffee. Also an orange juice kind of note.....really interesting. Hmmmmm......this is special. Black cherry and sweet red wine mix well with roasted malt and some oaky earth notes. Mouth is creamy with light carbonation. Lots of lingering tart and sweet syrup in the finish. This is a special beer, now only if I had more!

2009 bottle. Pours a deep almost black with a smaller bubble tan head. Aroma of molasses, caramel, dark fruits, cherries, vanilla, oak, chocolate and light alcohol. Flavor of dark chocolate covered tart cherries, molasses, caramel, vanilla, tobacco, some tartness coming through. Also some chocolate notes along with almonds.

Sampled at the ’09 RBPTE, courtesy of MrChopin. Huge nose on this, with caramel, molasses, chocolate, date, wood, and vanilla. Light hoppy quality, heavily malted and sweet. Clear black body with creamy dark lasting head. Full bodied, oily and alcoholic with medium carbonation. Full and rich with tons of chocolate, molasses, and some vanilla. Roasted malts and heavy sweetness. Delicious impy stout.

This bottled brew from a DLD beer festival poured a small sized head of foamy finely sized dark brown colored bubbles that were mostly lasting and left behind a opaque no visible carbonation dark brown colored body and a poor lacing. The mild aroma was roasted malt and dark malt. The mouth feel was thin weakly tingly at the start and at the finish with a nice roasted malty hoppy aftertaste. The flavor contained notes of hops roasted malt and dark malt.

Received via trade. 2008 release. There are beers that transcend words and are just better left to be tasted instead of read about, because reading surely doesn’t do it justice (at least my words don’t). There are better wordsmith’s out there who can do it justice, but there is no doubt in my mind that this is world-class beer.

The beer pours out an inky black color, rumbling body with a dark tan frothy head. Head retention in impy stouts is paramount for me because I enjoy a nice creamy head to last the entire pint. While the size of the head varied during my pint, it remained no less than a 1/2" thick the whole time. The aroma was just as decadent as can be. Huge notes of rich dark chocolate dipped cherries, vanilla coffee, port wine, brown sugar, molasses and soft anise notes. Sublime.

Flavor is just as impressive and wonderful as the aroma. Milk chocolate and coffee saturate the palate. Warm kaluha dark chcolate brownies and caramel sauce are my first thought. Port wine characters really exlode after it gets warmer, and it just pulls you in deeper. I’ve had stouts where chocolate is a major player, but this is a star in Kate the Great. It’s like the brewers took some of the worlds greatest desserts and crammed them in this bottle for us beer geeks to enjoy. I even had Bud Light drinkers going..."holy shit" after sharing it around the pool. Bravo.

This is a heavy hitter indeed. Pours a highlight-less black with a nice mocha head that leaves incredible lacing. Looks very viscous in the pour. Smell is of chocolate and dark fruit, maybe molasses in the background. Hints of toffee and very light roasted malts. Taste is well, what I had hoped. Somewhere in between the Dark Lord and the Darkness lies kate, a sweet and fruity but ballsy imperial stout. Chocolate and roasted malts are more prevalent in the mouth than in the nose. Dark fruits and molasses are present. Comes together extremely well. Mouth is just goddamn perfect. Thick and low carbonation. Where RIS should be. Drinkability is great, of course I will drink this again if given the chance. Not much hint of the present alcohol. The debate of whether or not this is a top 10 beer? Maybe not, but it is well above average when it comes to RIS.

DLD .09.. deep black ... thin bubbly head .... deep malt nose ... rich deep roast ... quite toffee rich and sweet solid roast malts ... nice ... now Fin just cause ive rated it dont mean you can drink the bottle :-) ... 4.2

Tk2 ... at fins Pre Cropredy 09 Get together ... HUGE thanks to MIKETD for this one ... deep black ... thin tan lacing ... deep coffee roast ... some chocolatre nose ... dry roast ... again lots of chcocolate ... quite spirity ... touch too dry for me. 4.1

Bottle sample at Noogfest High 5 thanks to TheBeerSommelier. Poured black with a tan head that settles out to a ring. Aromas of chocolate, coffee, and just a hint of dark fruits. The flavor had milk chocolate and a fruit backing (red grapes?). Full body. Nice!