Portsmouth Kate The Great Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Portsmouth Brewery
Style: Imperial Stout
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

12oz hand bottle from BrianK, thanks Brian! Black with a minimal tan ring for a head, more than likely due to the hand bottling. How long ago was this hand bottled? No idea. Lots of chocolate (milk and dark) and roast up front with some vanilla. Brown sugar and soy were lurking in the background closer to room temperature. Flavor is again very chocolatey with quite a bit of roast. This isn’t what sets this beer apart. The berry and vinous notes from before are still present with some light acidity. Very well balanced! As soon as I think it may be turning a bit sweet a nice push of roastiness confuses me. Ashy roasty dry finish with bitterness peaking only around a 2-3. Hints of berries and vinous fruits also arise. The only hints of its strength lie in my warm belly. Full creamy smooth body with minimal carbonation. Wonderful beer--I had a hearty sample from someone at Flossmoor from a growler, and though I didn’t feel like rating it, that sample pales in comparison to this hand bottle.

From a growler shared at DLD weekend. Pours a very dark brown in color with a slight head atop the beer. Smell is all cocoa and slight coffee. Full and creamy on the mouthfeel. Plenty of the cocoa and coffee in the taste as well. Has a definite malted milk ball in the taste. Very well done and tasty. Just not overly complex and trend setting.

22oz handbottle thanks to pantanap for sharing this "great" beer ... we’ll get to the great part in due time. But first the appearance. Black and thick with a beige soapy ring of a head. Nose grows on me as it warms. Its abundant with chocolate, roasted malt. and smoked notes that make it a little more interesting with time in my glass. Sweet chocolate, roasted malts, milky, with light burnt notes in the finish. Creamy body but the flavors become watery pretty quick. Overall the name would be less historically correct but more apt to what this beer truly is, if it was renamed Kate the Good. Kate is down on her horse, ... i mean luck if she thinks she’s more than a good stout, with so many other great ones out there.

22oz handbottle from BrianK (thanks my man).... pours pretty black with dark brown edges. swirly light tan head and froth around the edges.... aroma of mostly muted and dusty chocolate notes which i found somewhat lacking..... flavor of rich chocolate with long lasting sweetness. bitter roast in the finish witha a sweet lasting aftertaste.

12/20/08 rerate...thanks to cpferris for sharing... richer chocolate and longer withstanding flavors this time around with a nice burnt roast aspect to it in the finisth.

Update: Tasted at Cleveland tasting on 8-23-08. Thanks!! I tasted a vertical of Kate 07 and 08. Kate 07: Pours black with thin tan head. Has a licorice and malt aroma. Taste is more licorice, malt, coffee, and molasses. Finish is smooth and drinkable. Kate 08: All of the above except is is really a lot more hot fresh. The alcohol comes through on the aroma and the taste much more than the 1 year old. Or a growler that aged for 6 months. Overall, this is a solid brew. An aged version is much better than fresh so my rating does not change since I rated an aged version to begin with. Growler shared at Dark Lord Day 08. Poured dark black with a tan head. Smells like a sweet stout with some roasted malts coming through. Tastes like silky chocolate, malt, and finishes smooth with a nice chocolate aftertaste.

22oz handbottle. thanks kan! pours black with small off white head. aroma dark fruits, some smoke. flavor is pretty smokey, some chocolate, dark fruits. light to medium body. smooth finish. nice stout but nothing special.

22oz Bomber Getting the chance to sample Kate the Great on Easter courtesy of brewandbbq, Thanks Jeff! Kate gurgles midnight black from the bottle into my snifter. This beer actually sucks up the light in the room. Not much of a head up front but halfway through the pour a fingers worth of creamy dense mocha colored head showed up and never left. Tiny carbonation bubbles rush along the glass keeping the head in place throughout. Great looking drink lines are left behind after each sip. As this warms the aroma becomes more and more complex. Waves of anise throughtout cresting and then dropping from sight before cresting again. Deep roasted malts, bakers chocolate, and cocoa all meld together to create an intense, inviting nose. On top of all this throw in a hanful of dark ripe berries and you have yourself a mouthwatering complex RIS. Everything I picked up in the aroma comes through in the flavor. The chocolate, roastiness, and cocoa meld together perfectly to create an intense yet seamless RIS. The chocolate comes through big mid-palate through the finish with the roastiness adding a bite on the swallow. This really is a top notch RIS with an incredible complexity of flavors! The mouthfeel was good up front but as this beer nears room temperature the true nature of the beast comes out. Fantastically smooth and velvety. Kate massages the tongue on it’s slow tour of every tastebud in the area. The drinkability is as high as I could expect from any big complex RIS making this one a true danger if you’re not careful. My glass is disappearing far to fast as I try and figure out all the layers to this brew. I’m always a little skeptical, and I hate to admit it but more critical, of a beer with this amount of buzz behind it. This is a fantastic beer no matter which way you look at it and if you read the rest of my review complex is the word! Keep Kate the Great comin’! 3/24/08

Black with a beige head, decent retention and lacing. Some milk chocolate, cream, roast, sweet caramel, and a little coffee in the aroma. Sweet caramel, cream, milk chocolate and dark chocolate, some vanilla, and a touch of roastiness; so well done. Heavier than medium bodied with low carbonation, very smooth. An amazing beer, I need more of this. Thanks to Adam and Cole for the sample.