Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Imperial Stout
Tadcaster, England

Bouteille claire de 355 ml obtenue via les Importations Privées Bièropholie. Arôme: Odeur de café, de caramel et une légère pointe de solvant. Apparence: Couleur noire opaque. Moyen col mousseux beige. Fine dentelle sur le verre. Saveur: Goût de café, de chocolat et une légère pointe d’alcool. Long arrière goût. Palette: Le corps est moyen avec une texture minérale. Forte effervescence en bouche. Arrière goût de café. (Rating #312)

First impression was olfactory: ’whoa! smell the alcohol!’ Second impression was ’mouth-factory.’ Strong and bold. Fruity ester nuances; a slight prune-like taste (reminded me of the Sam Adams Triple Bock). This beer is black as night. My laser pointer wouldn’t even penetrate it. A very tasty stout, biceps and all. This beer grows hairs on your chest.

550. Pours deep black, essentially opaque, with a thick, moussy, towering, bubbly tan head. Fairly neutral nose; some dust and metal and chalk there. Subdued attack; medium body, low carb, restrained flavors. Mid-palate swims with chocolate, chalk, dust, metal, and not much else. Clingy, slightly astringent, chalky finish. Surprised how much I’m not enjoying this. Chalk is kind of a four letter word with me it seems.

Very dark amber color with quickly dissipating brown head. The aroma is all malt. I smell toffee, caramel, chocolate and roasted black patent malt. Actually the black patent seems to be the most profound aroma. It tastes just as it smells. Caramel-toffee and roasted malts. I taste a really good mix of the lightly roasted malts (sweet caramel flavor) with the highly roasted malts (almost burnt flavor) Very nice. I sense a little extra body with this one too.

Pours black with a brown head. Powerful aromas that mimic a glass of fine port: chocolate, raisins, plums, a little smoke essence. Delicious flavours of the same, plus some coffee notes and a well rounded finish. Pleasantly heavy mouth feel without being cloying. This beer is as close to perfect as I’ve had. Outstanding!

Brandyish, boozy, xmas pud raisiny snout. Head fizzes out disappointingly quickly. But Sam’s trademark smoothness compensates. Lots of alcohol and porty fruit, with a deeply roasy bitterness at the end. Richly smoky and whiskeyish malt. So that’s whiskey, brandy and port. Maybe a spoonful of quality stout for good measure. Tasty, but not the quite the revelation I was hoping for.

Just a beautiful beer to drink. Pours thick and syrupy, and appears to be black as night. Head is a light tan and appearance is very murky in the glass. Body is very medium and has a great creamy roasted mouthfeel. Lots of coffee with some maple syrup and brown sugar hints. Very tasty.

Drinkable velvet? Very smooth, great palate. I wish it didn't come in a clear bottle, though. Rerate, March 2004. I was surprised to find that A: Imperial Sout is my highest rated style, and B: This was my highest rated Imperial. So I drank one for the first time in a year or so and can say that it is a damn fine beer. Just not quite 4.7 fine, as I had originally rated it.