Portsmouth Kate The Great Russian Imperial Stout

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

#100! Big thanks to Brent:TheRealBastard, for sharing this one with me. Pour is as black as charcoal with a thin brown head. Aromas of chocolate, alcohol, roasted malt, and coffee. Flavor is nothing like i’ve ever had before. This brew coats your whole mouth and is wonderful. Coffee stands out the most and some chocolate is in the finish. I wish this stuff was on the shelf everyday. Awesome brew, the best I’ve had to date.

Simply put, one of the best Imperial Stouts I have ever had. Oily, rich in Coffee and Chocolately overtones, with a smooth bitterness dancing softly on the backside. The Mouthfeel is viscuous, and grainy, almost chewy. has a very small nutty flavour hidden in the palate as well. A superb brew.

Shared with Andrew(imadeadguy) and my little broski(Drew). I’m giving it a 20 only because the flavor is out of this world!!! Aroma is light chocolate and alcohol, but hardly there. That still does not take anything away from this one. This beer is the best imperial stout I’ve ever had. For overall flavor this is the one I wish I could have as an everyday drinker, a real treat. Taste is chocolate, dark chocolate, coffee, expresso, roasted malt, some smoke, little vanilla on the finish, and hops throughout. I couldn’t ask for anything more in a beer. This is the closest to the Double Bastard yet(my favorite beer). Huge thanks to Matthew and Unclejedi for this beauty. This beer defines what an Imperial stout should taste like. Period!!!

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.

Jet black body with a nice mocha head. Picturesque beer all around. The aroma is great. There is a bunch of milk chocolate and coffee and it smells delicious. The taste is crazy good. It is creamy chocolate and coffee blended together. There is a bit of hotness that is probably alcohol but could be some bitterness. I can’t wait to see how this ages. When it’s cold, the body seems pretty thick but as it warms it thins out a bit and becomes almost more of an old ale consistency. I prefer RIS’s on the thicker end and served on the warmer end, so this didn’t quite meet the terms of perfection. This is a DAMN good RIS. With a little age, I think the bitterness will reduce a bit and make this awesome. This beer is MUCH better cold rather than warm, which is usually the opposite of what I find. It still has good flavor and aroma cold and the body is much better.

On tap at the brewpub during the KtG release: Well, there were some really great beers on tap for the release but this Kate did in fact prove to be great for me. Thick, rich, concentrated, powerful...and surprisingly balanced. This pours thick in the glass and remains thick in the mouth, coating the entire palate. There was a nice mix of chocolate, coffee, roasted malt, vanilla and some dark fruit. Hopefully the bottles will live up to the tap! While I may not rate this a perfect 5, the day and event made this a perfect experience!

On tap at Portsmouth Brewery 2/9,.Just an awsome beer that more than lived up to it’s hype. Pours oil black with dark brown lacing. Aroma of molasses, roast, and chocolate. Taste is incredible, alcohol is barely present. Has strong cocoa and molasses flavor that are present right through to the end and then slights into a medium bitter finish. Just a beautiful finish, equal parts sweet and bitter. What a treat!

Original review date 2/10/2009...directly after KtG day... Served on-tap by Tod (my bad for misspelling your name in the Official KtG day thread - sorry Tod!) himself at KtG day a few minutes after the first tapping...into a Portsmouth snifter. Finally! Let’s see if Kate can bring it...and how... Pours an ultra-dark brown - more than dark chocolate or espresso. Maybe combine those with licorice or Sambuca black and you goddit. A bit of viscosity but not terribly thick. Ginger head is just under a finger - sticks OK with a bit of lacing. Brown sugar is front and center on the nose with a good alcohol burn. The dark roasted malt is so clean, though, on the backdrop. In a word...silky. I’m at a loss for words here and can’t really describe this...incredible! So much vanilla and roast combines in Beautiful Chemistry with the mild brown sugar and a little milk chocolate. Hops are on deep background but there’s a nice woody, grassy quotient that dries this up nicely. Absolutely perfect. The palate feel is perfectly balanced. Not too light, not too heavy. Not too much of anything but just enough of everything, as overabundant as this may be. It doesn’t come off as a caricature - all elements fire on all cylinders. Now the warning. Because this is so smooth, it drinks way, way WAY too easily for its ABV. Goes down quicker than (insert name of decrepit cherished female relative of your mortal enemy here) on the 29th of the month with rent due. This has got to be the best beer I’ve tasted to date. I guess it has the sweetness of Dark Lord with the dryness of Darkness, and it all ends up in perfect balance. Out-friggin’-standing. The trip to Portsmouth was well worth it.