Southern Tier IS

Formerly brewed at Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Lakewood, New York USA

Almost black. Hugely roasty aroma, with a slight fruitiness. Intensely roasty palate. Very hoppy (some tropical fruit notes derive from this). Balanced, very intense. A little two-dimensional, for a style that exemplifies complexity, but I think they were going for a bigger version of the Storm King theme on this one. Like that beer, it’s nice, but not complex enough to be a show-stopper.

(brewtopia04) Black body with lovely turgif pour that results in a large tan head. Lovely lacing too. Aroma is medium sweet, coffee, cocoa, grapefruit, faint anise. Taste is creamy, coffee, grapefruit, some vinous. Finish is grapefruit and mild alcohol burn. Full body.

This beer rocks!... on tap at Brewtopia 2004... Very, very dark brew with a creamy, well-tanned head. The nose is of cocoa, smoke, espresso and hay. The burnt flavor is of dark cocoa and is very well-hopped for balance. Full-bodied with an oily mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Lengthy, burnt, bitter finish. World class beer!

(Draught) Sampled at the Empire State Brewfest. Quick -dissipating brown head and an opaque body. Nose of cocoa and malt. Very hoppy flavour but somewhat thin. I couldn’t detect the high ABV. Its definitely a good beer and worth trying but I think its somewhat over-hyped? This brewery has done some fantastic recipes though... keep it up.

Tap @ Barcade. Pretty damn dark with aromas of chocolate malts and dried fruits. Taste is bittered nicely with even more roasted flavors. This stuff is not 13% but 10.5%. Masked nicely though. This brewery is constantly impressing me more each beer.

draught at brewtopia - in order to sample this beer I had to - 1. wait for the seemingly ignored southern tier folks to get ice in their coolers - and - 2. tolertate the somewhat inhospitable southern tier reps - but it was so worth it - this is amazing stuff - one of the darkest tan heads I’ve ever seen, with an aroma of roasted nuts and coffee - hoppy for an IS? - sure, but so is Storm King, and that beer rules - besides, the hops really help to accent the roasty, woody, nutty characteristics of the beer - very full bodied - chocolate lingers in the finish forever - too bad this is a one-off.

Brewtopia 2004: Blackish brown with a tan head. Roasted coffee and chocolate aroma, powerful bitter sweet ending. I’d like to try this one again.

We enjoyed talking beer with Matt Robbins as he served us this at the PA Microbrewers Fest. He said that this would be the first in a line of specialty stouts that they want to brew. Very fresh - probably too hoppy for those of you that like your Imp.Stouts more mellow. Huge aroma - hops and sweetened coffee. Flavors were almost overwhelming - thick sweet chocolate cream coffee, plums and raisins, big roasty bitterness. Palate was thick but also very vinous at times that and the dark fruits gave it a real wine quality. Finished long and hoppy, lingering roasts. Reminded me of a Blackout Stout, but thicker. Our favorite beer of the festival.