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?  
 tsarman (794), Northern, New Jersey, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/105/57/104/515/20
Oct 15, 2006  
A strong Imperial Stout that packs a punch. Little to no head, dark motor oil color. Not overly sweet and this is slightly stronger than I expected. Its been a while since I have had an impy, so it was a big beer to have. A solid impy stout, but I think this might need to be shared.


 kopher (294), New York, USA
4.3 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/105/518/20
Oct 10, 2006    Updated: May 31, 2009
Pours dark coffee-ish brown with thin brown head. Very stong strong green olive (?) nose with some burnt coffee and chocolate. Extremely thick and smooth. Wow. Flavor perfectly follows aroma of strong coffee, chocolate, and the green olives. Perfect sweet-bitter balance and light carbonation. Excellent.


 glkaiser (1150), Seattle, Washington, USA
3.8 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
6/104/58/103/517/20
Oct 9, 2006  
Bottle. Black with decent dark brown head. Aroma of bitter hops, light roasted malt, caramel and a little chocolate. Lots of hop taste for sure...very bitter finish. Thin. I just don’t get much out of this except the hops. I like hops, but for some reason don’t like them this dominating in a stout. Rated with the aid of Ms. Jeanne McCarthy.


 biz82 (1328), austin, Texas, USA
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/103/58/104/516/20
Oct 9, 2006  
Black. Oily. Aromatic nose with leather, cocoa, licorice, vanilla, burnt notes. Thick and smooth on the palate. Full flavored with roasted, dark sweet toffee and hops in balance. Clean, smooth, pleasant bitter finish. hidden alcohol. Excellent beer.


 canary dog (441), Rutland, Vermont, USA
3.9 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
7/104/57/105/516/20
Oct 5, 2006  
Whoa, nelly. This stuff is strong. One of the stongest beers I’ve tasted, since I’m not a fan of big beers. I thought I’d give it a shot because I love most of the stuff from this brewery. Deep, dark, bitter roastyness. The notes get darker towards the finish: plum, licorice, coffee, Worchestershire sauce, etc. Excellent body as the beer warms to room temperature. The dark and roasted notes meld together beautifully. A really fine treat. I enjoyed it.


 rickgordon (3285), Göteborg, Sweden
4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/58/105/515/20
Oct 5, 2006  
[Bottled, thanks to Kramer] Black colour, small brown head. Not all impy in aroma lots of grape, peach and a nutty woodiness(Centennial) but also tar and licorice. Sweet mouthfeel, favourably so, balanced flavour wih a fiery licoricy finish that comes late. Also, dried fruits and plum comes late. Very late. Solid bitterness, that also comes late.


 oh6gdx (8795), Vasa, Finland
4.4 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
9/105/58/104/518/20
Oct 4, 2006  
Bottled. Pitch black colour, mediumsized brown head. Aroma of conifereous woods, alcohol, licorace, strong hops and roasted malts. Flavour is pitch, roasted malts, old coffee, alcoholic sweetness. Wellbalanced and lovely.


 TBone (6675), Pori, Finland
3.6 Aroma Appearance Flavor Palate Overall
8/104/57/103/514/20
Oct 3, 2006  
Bottled. Opaque black, small tan head. Roasted, hoppy, dark coffee aroma. Taste is short: hoppy, bitter, chocolate, cold coffee. Aftertaste has hops. Balanced imperial stout and very American.



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 (4.35)

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