Sacramento Russian Imperial Stout

Formerly brewed at Sacramento Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Sacramento, California USA

Aromas of coffee, cacao and arguably some roasted malt. The tan head is rather transitory, but it laces somewhat. Starts with a sourish impact, followed by coffee and dark roasted malt. The malt survives the sour, and there may be a touch of bitter in the finish. Mostly roasted malt, though. The sour is a bit of what is in most Siletz brews, but not quite so much presence in this case.

My Bottom Line:
Screeching roastiness and grapey tartness collide. Burnt coffee beans and citrusy hoppiness disagree. At around 2 years old, this bottle shows obvious signs of wear, which should not happen in a beer of this gravity.

Further Personal Perceptions:
-A ring of foam circles the dark brown.
-This one didn’t match with chocolate very well.
-Black olives even show up in the flavor profile.
-The body is rather slim, making this very drinkable and not what I’m looking for in the style.

Bottle; no date written, but around 2 years old.

Interesting. This "stout" pours an amber, watery color. Looks nothing like an Imperial Stout, and frankly, it tastes nothing like an Impy Stout. Very Watery. Not to say this is bad, in fact, it’s pretty good, in an amber ale/IPA kind of way. I found this to be quite hoppy. Not bad, but it’s quite comical that this brewery calls this an Imperial Stout.

Not bad, not great. Had this at my neighbors house on New Years and it was decent, had a malty nose and taste, not much hop presence, and the overall flavoring was of thin chocolate and caramel. After I was done with this one, I washed my mouth out with a Fat Tire.

Bomber. Pretty malty. The smell was pretty good, but didn’t catch me as a stout. The taste was sweet and dark. Tiny taste of coffee and/or cocoa. Doesn’t taste too hot as some imp stouts can, but overall I think the balance is off. I do, however, appreciate the faint hoppiness I get. This might change if aged.

4 ounce sample on tap at the Sacramento location. Cocoa, anise, booze in the nose with lots of black malts. Too boozy and unpleasant. Opaque black color with a fair light tan head and nice lacing. HOLY HARSH. Tone down on the black malts, Mr. Brewer. VERY burnt and VERY bitter and overly alcoholic. Bad Bad Bad. Undrinkable. Very unbalanced and severely flawed. This must have been a fucked up batch that they decided would not be suitable for bottling, but appropriate to sell at the bar.

Deep brown- no head- roasted, malt, mocha, chocolate nose- chocolate, peanuts, oat taste- medium body- milky aftertaste but thin

Pours dark brown/black with quickly diminishing tan head. Smells good, tastes good, but very thin for an Imperial Russian Stout. Chocolate and coffee with some roasty flavors. Okay, but not great.