Smuttynose Imperial Stout

Brewed by Smuttynose Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Portsmouth, New Hampshire USA

(Bottle) Pours dark, dark brown. allmost no head. Citric, pine, rasin, Centennial hop aroma with hints of liquorice. A bit burned. Salty, roasted, liquorice and bitter hops in flavour. Dry, big body. Very good.

Bomber consumed outside in the 18 degree weather. The pour is solid for an impy, jet black with a tall dark tan head. When the snifter is held to the light, a bit of ruby hues are apparent perhaps. The aroma highlights a distinct hoppiness and a wash of espresso and mocha. It’s thick, not uber thick, but dense enough to compete with any reasonable brew in the style. Birch, soy sauce, tree bark, espresso, earth, and caramel are in the mix of rich flavors. Great beer, well done, I would some it up as a tamer Yeti Stout.

I wish I remembered who sent this. I write it on every bottle, but I forgot to write it down in my notes. I remember it being expensive, like $20. Possibly puzzl? Brought to Dr Bills. It was my first visit there. What an incredible beer sanctuary. A huge wall of incredibly rare beer, which I thought was just for show, but it turns out many of them were opened later that night. I missed out. No biggie. It was just completely awesome to be there at the beginning. Anyway, enough rambling and onto the rating. Pours black with a small tan head. Chocolate aroma. Lots of bitterness, a bit tannic. Delicious.

On tap at the Brass Tap (Tampa, FL). Pours a murky dark brown to black color with a slightly foamy tannish head. Aroma is roasted and malty with notes of floral hops, ripe dark fruit, chocolate, tobacco, hints of coffee and vanilla. Flavor is also roasted and malty with even more of a hop presence and notes of chocolate, dark fruits, caramel, toffee, some hints of brown sugar. Generally medium to full body with a floral hop finish. Pretty good but a tad too much hops for this style.

bottle. Very destinct roasted smell. Keeps a thin head. Very nice balanced flavor. Not as thick as I hoped but still good. Very nice palate kept me wanting more.

2006 bomber courtesy of Puzzl. Pours a pitch black with an intial foamy brown head that fades to nothing but an oil slick quickly. Nose is just a touch of hops with a roasty malt and coffee background. Palate is dark chocolate, black coffee with vanilla added, roasted malt and a slight hop bitter aftertaste, though it doesn’t linger very long. Fairly chewy mouth feel. Nice stout. Would drink again. Thanks Andrew!

Bottle from moejuck. Thanks Joe. Notes I have say bitter, anise, chocolate and hops. Thats pretty good, right? Sluttyhose is wanna my favorite breweries.

22 oz. bomber bottle, "Bottle Conditioned in 2006," blurb along the left side of the label, sampled in a snifter. Poured a syrupy looking blackish brown with tight compact tan head of creamy foam, slowly dissipated into a thin sudsy lacing, minimal amount of laced sticking. Yep, it’s not hard to tell that this has been dry hopped with NW hops, quite floral, orange blossoms namely, and citric zest with oily grapefruit peels that softly dominate the aroma. A subtle berry vanilla goes along with the mildly roasted malts, cocoa and light coffee. This has a rich creamy full body that makes this RIS a bit to easy to drink, helps hide the 10% ABV. The malts have a sweet charred taste, cocoa beans, caramelized brown sugar and mild roasted coffee. Behind the malts is a berry fruitiness with a soft acidity. The hops are a bit more mellower than in the aroma, but you still get plenty of citric tastes, orange zest and grapefruit pulp. Soft hop spiciness comes out at the end, melding with roasted malt tastes. The alcohol is barely noticeable, just a low temperature fruity warmth in the mouth. I thought this was a pretty enjoyable RIS, glad I picked up a couple of bottles on a recent trip to Wisconsin, will definitely provide a nice soothing warmth on an cold winter night.