Rock Bottom Denver Black Bull Imperial Stout

Draft at the brewery. Opaque impy looking with a 1/8 inch dense beige head. Nose-biscuits, malty, light maple syrup, clean hops. Taste-low to medium sweetness, unsweet raisin and fig, dry toast, light mace and nutmeg, light pepper, goods use of spice, sweetness not too upfront, light bark, light dark fruit phenols, honey, finishes with a thick mouthfeel like honey. Very well done.

tap at the brewpub. inky with a thick brown head. strong chocolate nose with a raisin and alcohol hint. licorice and coffee notes mixed with the chocolate flavor. alcohol is noticeable, but is sweet enough not to finish dry. some marshmallow and caramel notes with just the right buttery toffee. a nice one to have after watching the cubs kick the rockies ass. 5 7 7 4 14 rerate. 1-29-07 forgot i had rated this so i took notes again. a lot of caramel, some coffee w/cream taste. very smooth. i could drink a lot of this. a good way to start the afternoon on a cold day. black with a lasting lacing brown head. didn’t get much in the nose. just a bit of generic sweetness. but they don’t have to smell good to taste good. chocolate comes up as it warms. berry finish with a grapeskin note. 4 4 7 4 16

Draft: Penetrable black. Snugly packed rich-khaki foam. Dull, yeasty aroma with spicy alcohol, prunes, licorice, roasted barley, and a touch of chocolate. Tacky and very oily. Full bodied. Initially quite rich, soft and supple, but the overt presence of yeast soon muffles the richness. Pronounced nougat fluffs up the body and lends some sweetness, as silky notes of barley softly emerge. Very little richness and seemingly devoid of any black malt astringency or harsh roast to deepen the fruitiness or allay the taffy-like yeast. Molasses-soaked chocolate cake is vaguely perceptible, but any complementary espresso or char notes fail to make an impact. Rather wet and bland in the finish, as the malts, or lack thereof, never fully blossom, which leaves room for a lingering afterimage of silky barley, prunes, tacky yeast and a faint metallic zing. Pretty ordinary example and it certainly is not very Imperialish. Far too sweet (also lacks depth, malt richness, and the attenuation is poor) overall, and the nose is yeasty and slightly worty.

Black oily body, with a very small brown head. Roasty coffee nose, with a somewhat light to medium body, and becomes increasingly harder to drink as it warms as it just becomes to sticky on the palate. Bitterness transcends through all the other flavors, leaving the chocolate and the fruitiness in the back seat of flavor.

Chocolate and liquorice notes to the toasted malt aroma. Opaque black body with low tan head that recedes to ring. Bittersweet coffee blends with chocolate and roasty flavours with moderate bitterness chased by a lasting sweetness. Medium body feels somewhat thin with pointy, aggressive carbonation and strong alcohol warming. Sampled on tap at Rock Bottom Denver with Olivier_MTL and Rastacouere.