Samuel Smiths Imperial Stout

Brewed by Samuel Smith
Style: Imperial Stout
Tadcaster, England

Awesome brew! Tastes like candy! Apple cidar aroma, great roasted hops and malts, smokey. Flavor is of roasted hops and malts, chocolate/coffe influences. Texture is creamy and finish is hops bitter and moderately dry. Great stuff! Tastes like the Oatmeal stout, with more hops and slightly more dry with a slight hint of alcohol in the 7% ABV.

A treat for me on Halloween. Pours to a beautiful beige head, long lasting. Has a great appearance, very dark, nice lacing. Aroma was great & roasty, a bit of chocolate & raisin? Great tasing, a bit sweet, but some slight bitterness. Dry finish, an excellent brew, a real sippin' treasure.

Bottle. Wow. This is the benchmark Imperial Stout the way Guiness is the benchmark stout. Big creamy head, light brown lacing. Thick, rich, chewy beer, flavors are well blended.

Beautiful stout, black as the night with a tall light brown head. Delicate sweet aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, smoke and liquorice. Flavor is bitter/sour with penetrating notes of malt, fruit, chocolate and coffee. Another excellent and very smooth stout from Samuel Smiths.

Full aroma of chocolate, coffee and roasted barley. Very dark to black with little carbonation but with a full lasting head. Flavor was rich and balanced. Very creamy across the palate. Great Stout!

Bottle. So black. No light has a chance of making it through this beer. Burnt coffee chocolate aroma. Sweet flavor with roasted malts, espresso, and chocolate. Very nice.

Dark enough to block out the sun with a small tan head. Smells like fruity bitter chocolate and coffee liquer. Sweet, roated malt taste, sligtly alcoholic. Full mouthfeel, want to keep it there for a while before swallowing. Dry slightly bitter finish with an Engish hop presence. This is good stuff.{duh}. The aromas and flavors are plentiful, and they are all making me happy. I'm sure Sam Smith beers are better in England- I must go there.

The beer came in a 550 ml. sturdy looking clear (why?) bottle that released an a dark brown liquid with red highlights. This beer does not have the inky black look of other imperial stouts. The head was coffee-colored and formed at about 1½ inches thick initially, but then quickly dissipated to a thin layer of foam and some decent lace. The aroma was roasted coffer and dark chocolate goodness, with a dollop of dark skinned fruits thrown in the mix. The taste was a delightfully intense balance between the sweet flavors of raisins, figs, toffee, and apples; and bitter notes of old coffee and unsweetened chocolate. The alcohol warmth was pretty tepid for an imperial stout, and is clearly not the draw in this beer. The mouthfeel was also quite a bit lighter that the big boys, but was satisfying nonetheless. An easy drinking stout that is clearly a step above the ordinary, but remains very approachable still. A sessionable imperial stout if you will.