Sprecher Russian Imperial Stout

Brewed by Sprecher Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Glendale, Wisconsin USA

Sprecher’s best product, but that’s not saying much as all there beers are poor to average. Nice dark colour. Hints of chocolate and coffee in the aroma and in the initial taste. Body turns a bit flat and lifeless later, maybe partial oxidized, and leaves little after taste on the finish. Too sweet and not the right hop characteristic to be a "real" imperial stout.

Jet black color, the flavor has some roasty & lactic notes. This was an "all right" imperial stout, but nothing special

Bottle: Courtesy of Styles. Aroma is sweet chocolate and the slightest hint of coffee. Pours a dark brown with no transparency and a small tan head. Flavor is chocolate up front with a roasted coffee and very metallic finish. Even without the metal it’s still a below average Imperial Stout. With the metal it’s just plain bad.

Poured a beautiful black with a well-retained 1/4" caramel head. Roasted chocolate and some caramel provided the bulk of the aroma... along with a little licorice. Nice chocolate and caramel in the flavor, with a bit of coffee on the finish. Hops make their first appearance toward the finish as well... with a nice dose of bitterness. Nice creamy mouthfeel, but not as thick as I’d like from the style.

Thanks to JPDIPSO for this. Pours obsidian with a 1-finger brown head. Aroma of chocoff, oaky roast malt, prunes, licorice, figs. The taste is roasty malty, with some chocoff, oak, anise, bourbon, and brown sugar flavors. Dense, complex palate and finish. This one is wonderful, a tad chewy but yet smooth and well balanced. This one is bigger and bolder than the CW Satin Solstice.

Roasty coffee and chocolate aroma with a bit of metal. Taste is sweet but tinny again with same old impy stout flavors. Some caramel and smoke flavors taste artificial.

You can watch it come out of the bottle as a dark, syrupy brown, but it turns black in the glass, crowned by a creamy chocolate colored head. Stick your nose in the glass and, besides foaming up the tip of your nose, you’ll get a solid whiff of roasted malts, licorice, raisins and prunes, caramel, and coffee. Smooth in the mouth, the scents come alive as rich flavors, the accent being on the roasted caramel malts, the licorice, and now a touch of bitter chocolate. It’s got a mildly bitter, yet sticky sweet malt finish. Sprecher’s shown that an Imperial Stout can deliver big time withouth going over the deep end.

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Glad I took the time to rerate this one as the second bottle was much better than the first. Thick, deep brownish black with a creamy brown head. Aroma is a load of roasted malt, coffee, faint chocolate and molasses. Thick and full in the mouth with dark roasted malt, semisweet chocolate, caramel and a licorice-like bittersweet background. Slightly bitter, smoky finish that really smooths out the whole experience. So, after further review, this is an excellent stout.