Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout

Anybody can make a 11 percent imperial stout taste great. You have to be a world class brewery like Samuel Smith’s to make a 7 percent imperial stout taste this good, this perfectly balanced, flavorful, and with this kind of mouthfeel. Awesome beer for sure.

Bottle. Pours black with thick tan head. Sweet malt aroma. Roast malt aroma with balsam hints.

Pours a very dark black with a thin tan head. Aroma is roasted malt. Flavor is sweet malt with coffee and a hint of alcohol. Improves as it warms. Not quite as big and bold as other imperial stouts, but a good beer.

Pours very dark with a thick frothy brown head. Delicious aroma of oats, chocolate, alcohol, and light coffee. Very smooth initial taste that mirrors the aroma, oatmeal, chocolate, and a little honey sweetness to it. There’s only a little coffee on the finish, and the whole brew meshes together very well for a full bodied palate.

Sam Smtihs does it again. Jet black. Malty and sweet on the tongue. Maybe some dried fruit to be found as well. Nice rich body and perfect carbonation. Delicious!

Re-rate 8/24/09: Bottle sample at a tasting. Thanks zvikar. Black-colored with a big brown head. Aroma of malt, chocolate, some nuts and light fruitiness. Sweet chocolate flavor with roasted malt, a bit of dark fruit notes and a bitter finish with roastiness and earthy and herbal notes. Full silky body. 7/4/7/4/15=3.8

Ɠ/14/08) Bottle bought at De Bierkoning and drank at a friends’ house in Amsterdam. Black color, seems opaque, with a medium light brown head. Aroma of coffee and some chocolate. Sweetish roasted malt flavor with coffee, cocoa and some light fruit notes. A slightly drier finish. Medium to full body. Great. 8/4/8/4/16=4

Super dark with off white head that sustains. Very roasted caramel aroma, smokey and coffee-like with alcohol. Expresso on the tongue with a long finish. A sweetness that makes the lips stick together. Very good but it does have a bit a burnt, dry aftertaste.

Pours dark with small but compact head...smells faintly reminiscent of a port and first impressions upon drinking are a solid mouthfeel - pretty chewy with an aftertaste of burnt grain. Just a touch of bitterness - less so than the aroma implied. A very good stout - not sure I understand what differentiates an ’imperial’ from a standard stout - the abv% isn’t super high...a very tasty beer though...