Southern Tier Jah-va

Brewed by Southern Tier Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Lakewood, New York USA

malty up front, with burned old coffee. thin and bitter, but balanced with sweetness on the finish. long bitter acidic aftertaste. great imperial stout foundation of sweet malty with subtle sarsaparilla hints.

Bottle. Listed ABV on the bottle is 11%. Pours black, unsurprisingly, with a dark brown hue around the edges. Short, fading tan head. Aroma is strong coffee notes, big roasted malt and dark chocolate. Taste is big coffee - strong oily coffee beans, burn cookies, roasted malts, and dark chocolate. Sweet but bitter at the same time, though the sweetness has the edge. The body on this is slightly sticky, oily and creamy with a mild carbonation. Medium-full overall feel but lacking the chewiness. Ends with more coffee, burnt cookies, dark roasted malt and chocolate notes. Pretty much the same throughout, but a pleasure to drink, all the same.

Dark brown pour, modest beige head, only temporary lace. Nose is at best average: sticky caramel and alcohol heat lead, coffee and roasted malt aromas seem an afterthought. Weak first impression: hot, overbrewed caramel flavors overshadow the complex roast elements, coffee, licorice, dark fruits; with a bitter, almost burnt finish. Mellows out given the chance, or perhaps a sufficient buzz, then the coffee harmonizes with the sweet malts and bitter roast, kind of a coffee-cream soda-whiskey blend. Thick, warm palate. Creamy with a long linger.

Bottle shared by DuffnamSW. Pours pitch black with a creamy beige head. Aroma is slightly sweet and has some coffee, dark fruits and just a bit of alcohol. Flavor starts sweet and chocolatey and ends with coffee and dryness. Thick and creamy, nice soft carbonation.

22 oz bottle. Have had one ST before, wasn’t impressed, but I really like coffee stouts, and this is rated highly, so I decided to try it. Pours a pitch black color, completely opaque, with no head at all. Smells of roasted coffee, sugary malts, barley, and light chocolate. The taste on the other hand is INTENSE. Extreme bitter chocolate, but not like other coffee, this tastes like coffee with cream and sugar, which is an interesting twist. All the other smells were not present. I am used to strong coffee, but this is a little lighter, yet more bitter. Strange, but I like it. Great aftertaste. Very good beer, one I would like to have again.

650mL bomber at our KW group tasting, thanks to Mat for this. Pours a dark brown, not viscous, identical to their other 2 Imperial Stouts. Aroma is nice and earthy, spicy, coffee roast prominent, and perhaps some mild green coffee beans as Mat pointed out to me. Flavour is much the same, no alcohol burn (read: this is NOT 12% no matter what you claim ST), toffee, chocomalt. It’s really not all that different than the other two IS’s in this series, and the lack of distinction makes it less impressive. Very tasty but nothing really stands out to me. The coffee is good, but maybe not enough? Odd how two mediocre Imperial Stouts makes one really good one (Mokah).

Bottle compliments of DuffmanSW. Shared with mspindler at my new apartment. No head at all. Black as a hole. Java smell. Very very good. Southern Tier living up to it’s name. Thanks Sean!

Bottle. Pours a deep black color with a nice tan head. Roasted chocolate aroma, with some smoked malt and oats. Thick coffee flavor with some roasted malt and a hint of chocolate. Nice sweet finish. Great stout!