Redfish Blackalicious Imperial Stout

Formerly brewed at Redfish New Orleans Brewhouse
Style: Imperial Stout
Boulder, Colorado USA

Date: 10/14/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewpub

black, fine tan head, bits of lace, dark chocolate aroma with a light sweetness to bring out the chocolate before being balanced by a touch of roasted malt, creamy body, rich chocolate flavor, touch of sour mash tartness, light roasted melds with bittering hops, light lingering bitter finish,

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 7/10; Overall: 13/20
Rating: 3.5/5.0
Drinkability: 7/10
Score: **+/4

From the Jug at the GABF, Colorado Convention Center 12/10/2007 Cream coloured head. Some roast aroma. Black fruity and strong in alcohol with a crisp and bitter coffee roast finish.

On tap at the brewpub on 10/14/07: Pours an opaque oily black with a rich dark tan/light brown, spotty-lacing head. Aroma of sweet complex dark caramel and chocolate with a touch of dark fruits and roastiness. Sticky sweet dark caramel malty body has a mild hint of acetone and some rich dark chocolate and coffee flavors toward a full, bittersweet roasted finish. A pretty nice imperial stout.

Draught at Redfish. Head is brown, mostly diminishing. Body is dark brown to black. Aroma is moderately malty (roasted/burnt grain, chocolate, husks), lightly hoppy (resin), lightly yeasty (dough), with light notes of vanilla, blackberry, and chalk. Flavor is moderately to heavily sweet, lightly acidic, lightly bitter. Finish is lightly to moderately sweet, lightly acidic, moderately bitter. Medium to full body, velvety texture, lively carbonation. A few problems in the nose (which is ultimately kind of boring aside from those issues) surprisingly doesn’t prevent the mouth experience from being pleasant. Nice balance, fairly clean, and a velvety texture made it more fun to drink than sniff. Needs work, but is drinkable as-is. Not very imperial.

Tap @ Redfish: Poured black with a tan head. The aroma was roasty, sweet and malty. Some notes of dark chocolate and alcohol. The alcohol aroma borders on being too much. The flavor is fairly sweet and lightly roasted. Not much in the way of coffee or chocolate. Almost full bodied and sticky. Some warmth.

sampled on tap at the 5th Boulder Strong Ale Fest. pours dark brown. nose was loaded with baker’s chocolate. taste was all baker’s chocolate. pretty boring impy.

Draft: Molasses brown. Buoyant big-bubbled head disappears into a thin ring. Muted nose of plums, nougat, chocolate taffy and stewed peaches. Slightly metallic. Feisty carbonation is quite loose and prickly and produces an acidic bite before depositing a fuzzy blanket of foam. Overtly soggy, fruity, and dirtily yeasty initially, with a gentle note of roasted barley. Poorly structured malt frame is terribly vague and undefined. Dry snap of roast merely coarsens the flabby malt spine. Chalky with an insignificant touch of burnt cookies. Hops compound the acidic char with some unrefined citric qualities. No malt lushness to counteract the overwhelming graininess. Finishes wet with whispers of brash char, cakey yeast and muddled malts. Served way too cold, to begin with. It took me 20+ minutes to get this to the proper temperature. Not that it helped any. Just far too muddled, poorly attenuated/flabby, dirty, and acidic.

GABF. Chocolate and coffee on the aromas. More on the flavor, but much more subtle. Some hopps on the finish. little bit of alcohol in there too. Decent