RateBeer
   Home Sign Up or Login Advanced Search
   People Ratings Events Places Forums Shop Magazine
      Top By Category  RateBeer Best  Latest Ratings  Top 50    

Smuttynose Imperial Stout

Smuttynose Imperial Stout - Imperial Stout

* picture credits
copyright may apply

 Percentile 
99
overall
Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout

Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

bottled
common

on tap
common

Broad Distribution
Find this beer

Add Distribution Data
send corrections | shelftag |

 Ratings  Average  Score  Seasonal  ABV  Style Pctl  Serve in 
6073.96/5.03.94/5.0Winter10.1%84.2Snifter
View Statistics  P 

Commercial Description:
After a one year hiatus the Imperial Stout is back in action. We figured that after catching a bit of flack for its absence we’d have it return with a bang. We bumped up the starting gravity from 20° P to 24° P. This allowed the beer to finish just over 10% ABV. Like this year’s Barleywine, we’ve decided to play with the hop character, specifically the dry hop presence. Trying to avoid the fiasco of my previous attempt at adding pellets to the fermentor, I did what any good manager would do: I made Charlie add them. He had the advantage of being able to add the hops directly through a top manway and so his besting me in this challenge is not necessarily a sign of his superior brewing skills but more a reflection of my adventurous, try anything spirit (or at least that’s the story I’m stickin’ to). The Charles added 44 lbs of Cascade, split evenly between two batches, or about half a pound per barrel. We then transferred the beer onto seventy-eight pounds of an even mixture of Centennial and Columbus whole flowers, about one pound per barrel. The beer is a little top heavy in terms of the hopping but it seems to be smoothing out a bit as it’s aging. I’d give it six months or so, if you can wait that long. If not, hey, enjoy it anyway.
 Most Recent Top Raters Highest Ratings Who's Rated This?  
 GandGKevin (183), Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA
4.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
10/104/510/104/519/20
Apr 9, 2009    Updated: Apr 10, 2009
WOW!!!! My brain is in overload. Is this an Imperial Stout or is it a Black DIPA? You decide. Either way it’s an awesome beer.


 HOPSHUNTER (376), Tampa, Florida, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/104/516/20
Apr 8, 2009  
Bottle. Poured black with thin brown head. Aroma is of roasted malt, alcohola and some anise. Firm chewy body, with flavors of burnt malts, chocolate, anise, and some hints of vanilla. Finishes dry with hoppy bitterness. A somewhat unusual example of the style but good.


sjolles85 (77), Tampa, Florida, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/104/517/20
Apr 5, 2009  
almost black pour.. small tan head..soy sauce and oak..chocolate and hoppy. Overall awesome beer.


 thejon375 (390), Tampa, Florida, USA
3.7 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/57/104/514/20
Apr 5, 2009  
Shared with Steve and Eric. Pours dark almost black, with a short tan head. Nose of soy sauce and oak. Great flavors of choc, coffee and hops. Great beer to keep you warm during those winter months.


 timsilvia32 (445), from Michigan now in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/105/58/104/516/20
Apr 4, 2009  
22 oz. My bottle said 8.9% abv. Nice used motor oil colored pour. Good sized dark tan head. Aroma is way dominated by pineyness. Some faint roast tones, coffee, malt, dark chocolate. Flavor does have quite a bit of the hops up front, but does fade. Warming definetely helps this out as well. Roast malt, dark fruits and some chocolate ease on through. Just a little bit hot. Mouthfeel starts a bit prickly, but mellows to near creaminess. The lingering is a mix of coffee and the hops again. I thought this was very good, if not a bit different. The thing this reminded me the most of was 3F Alpha Klaus, but slightly better. I think this may age very nicely and mellow the hops out a bit. With the abv just slightly lower than normal, assuming my bottle was correct, this will also have a nice amount of drinkability to it.


 SFLpunk (132), South Burlington, Vermont, USA
4.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/105/59/105/517/20
Apr 3, 2009  
22oz brown glass pry-top bottle. "Bottle Conditioned in 2009." Appearance: Totally opaque black with hints of brown around the edges. Thick creamy tan head, 1 inch thick, recedes slowly, leaving lots of wide bands. Nose: High notes of black coffee, green coffee beans, wet green leaves, demarara sugar, creme brulee. Palate: Medium-bodied for the style, with a huge amount of bitterness right off the bat. It really tastes like dark roast coffee brewed black, thick and with not enough water. You know the kind: Morning after an all-night barleywine fest, not thinking straight, need coffee, twice as many scoops as usual, half the water, not enough sugar, skip the cream...we have lift off! kind of coffee. Also some bittersweet chocolate notes, cocoa nibs, a little moss-like note, and a long, bitter finish. Notes: More bitter and a little lighter in body that I remembered this beer being. That being said, I really like it! Some Imperial Stouts can get to be really sweet up front, but this guy, this one here is a stout for the IPA drinker. Hops!


 TearsforBeers (170), Ohio, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/104/57/104/516/20
Apr 3, 2009  
Big ol’ thanks to mcox90 for this one! Pours black with ruby edges. The aroma is wonderful - some kind of amazing chocolaty malty soy sauce dominates. The flavor is different - less soy sauce and more chocolate, coffee, roasted malts, and maybe a wee presence of hops. The palate is pretty good, moderately thick and warming. Overall, this is a very fine brew that I would be happy to drink regularly.


 dmac (1418), Toms River, New Jersey, USA
4.1 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/104/517/20
Mar 29, 2009  
22oz bomber from Spirits. Lets keep this short and sweet, good looking super roasty aroma and flavor. Hints of coffee and dark chocolate with a good dose of hops still present. Very good stuff despite all the tryptophan that knocked me out.



CONSIDER FREE RATEBEER MEMBERSHIP



Join us! RateBeer is made by beer enthusiasts for the craft beer community. Your basic membership is free and allows you to read all beer ratings. Click here to create your account... and give your opinion!

SIGN UP NOW »

View Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

What's Your Opinion?
Tell us what you think of this beer. Start your free RateBeer account now.
» Click here.

More Imperial Stouts

Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter (4.46)

Three Floyds Oak Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout (4.42)

Three Floyds Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout (4.36)

Bells Bourbon Barrel Double Cream/Expedition Stout (4.33)

AleSmith Speedway Stout (4.33)

AleSmith Barrel Aged Speedway Stout (4.31)

Bells Expedition Stout (4.31)

Cigar City Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout (4.3)

Surly Darkness (4.26)

Three Floyds Vanilla Bean Barrel Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout (4.25)

Närke Stormaktsporter (4.23)

The Bruery Black Tuesday Imperial Stout (4.22)

Stone Imperial Russian Stout (4.21)

Founders Canadian Breakfast Stout (4.2)

Mikkeller Beer Geek Brunch Weasel (4.2)


About RateBeer | Add A Beer | Add A Brewer | Edit Personal Info | 100 Beer Club | FAQ | Log out | Feedback? | Copyright 2000-2009, RateBeer LLC