Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Imperial Stout
Tadcaster, England

Intense black with smallish brown head that recedes but never quite disappears. Lots of lacing. Aroma is mainly roasted (almost smokey) barley with a hint of rich sweetness. Palate is surprisingly watery. Flavour is lots more roasted barley with an almost burnt edge and very dark fruit. Very nice.

12oz bottle(courtesy of RSRIZZO)-Pitch black body with a nice loose tan head and an aroma of coffee, chocolate, sweetness, burnt malt, and slight alcohol. Taste of roasted malt and everything in the aroma but also very light bodied IMO. Very smooth and drinkable but way too light.

Oil black with creamy brown head. Sweet burnt molasses aroma with pruney notes. Same features exist in taste, with sweet, burnt roasty chocolate notes, which dominates profile. Roastiness is somewhat cloying, but it’s still quite good. $3/355ml

3/5/08 notes: from large bottle. Pours dark brown with one finger tan head. Nose is of molasses, alcohol and some sweet brown sugar. Upon drinking, first thing I noticed is surprising lightness of body! This is too thin for an imperial stout, in my opinion. Flavor features malts, light roasts, some nutty flavors (perhaps almond?) and a substantial sweetness. I tasted some alcohol in the finish. This beer features the classic Sam Smith smooth sweetness, but to me, this beer was disappointingly one-sided. It is very drinkable, but a simple sweet roast flavor and light body put this well behind the best imperial stouts I’ve tried, or even Sam Smith’s Oatmeal Stout.)

Best strong stout I ever tasted. Keep comming back to it. Only problem: not to be had on tap in my hometown.

Pours a black beer with a dark brown sugar head. The aroma is of great strong mollasses. The flavor was strong with malted barley, notes of chocolate and mollasses and smooth on the palate. Truly the best Stout I’ve had so far. I have a couple more famous Stouts on my list to try and well see.

A dark brown coloured beer. A brown head. Hard and bitter taste of chocolate. Some sourness and barleywine notes in the taste.

12 oz. bottle into wine glass (for lack of sniffer). WARNING: I drank this after a Sam Adams Tripple Bock, and thus my rating could be wholly skewed (see my rating of SA 3bock). Faint aroma of roasted dark malts and chocolate, but not a whole lot of flavors or potency going on. Nice black pour with too minimal of a head though. Flavor tasted unbalanced; it almost seemed flavorless were it not for the faint bitterness and sourness - like dusty chocolate and grapes. Medium bodied; too thin and carbonated for a good imperial. Overall: not worth it unless it is free.