Sweetwater Happy Ending Imperial Stout

Brewed by Sweetwater Brewing Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Atlanta, Georgia USA

Bottle: Black in color, thing brown head, spritzy, dissipates rather quickly, spotty lacing.   Nose of sweet carob, roasted coffee beans, sugar, and cream.   Moderately hopped start, sweet roasted malts from start to finish.   Not all that robust, a little thin in body and also on the tongue.   Somewhat dry, a little chalky, with moderate milky sweetness.   Some dark pitted fruit aspect, but very light.   Slight soy, very slight.   Overall its decent, but simply isn’t that robust as most others in the style.   Tasty, but just not all there.   Thanks Larry for the bottle!

Name: Happy Ending
Date: September 01, 2004
Mode: Draft
Source: Taco Mac
Appearance: black, scant head
Aroma: light roasted aroma
Body: thin body
Flavor: roasted malt flavor with light bitterness, very simple, not much malt character other than the roasted, almost bland
Overall: a disapointing first big beer offering from Sweetwater

Name: Happy Ending
Date: January 28, 2006
Mode: atl cask fest
Aroma: sweet oaky aroma
Flavor: sweet bourbon chocolate roasted flavor, oak bitterness

Name: Happy Ending
Date: February 09, 2006
Source: Wild Wing, Marietta
Appearance: black
Aroma: roasted and earthy hop aroma
Flavor: lots of bitter roasted flavor, touch of sweet chocolate

Name: Happy Ending
Date: May 20, 2006
Mode: growler
Score: ii to iii
Body: the body has grown and turned to cream
Flavor: the hops and roasted flavor have gotten into a really nice balance
Overall: a huge improvement

Name: Happy Ending
Date: February 23, 2007
Mode: bottle
Source: Pop’s
Score: 3.7 to 4.0
Aroma: sweet chocolate and licorice aroma with a hint of alcohol
Flavor: sweet milk chocolate and roasted flavor, only a touch of roasted, only a light bitterness in the finish but mostly sweet
Overall: continues to progress from the original big bitter roast to the now sweet creamy milk chocolate, better every year

Name: Happy Ending
Date: March 02, 2008
Mode: draft
Source: taco mac
Score: 4.0 to 4.2
Appearance: black, creamy tan head
Aroma: roasted malt aroma with lots of sweet citrus hops
Flavor: rich milk chocolate malt flavor, nice milky sweetness really brings out the chocolate, touch of citrus for balance goes surprisingly well with the rich chocolate, light balancing bitterness does not detract from the rich malt

Name: Happy Ending
Date: March 05, 2008
Mode: bottle
Source: bullochs
Aroma: hop character in the aroma is almost over the top to the point of being a touch grassy
Body: body appears thinner in the bottle
Flavor: flavor is more roasted than chocolate, more of the citrus hops as well to the point of hop burps
Overall: needs age

Name: Happy Ending
Date: March 11, 2009
Mode: draft
Source: taco mac crabapple
Vintage: 2008
mellowing out nicely, citrus hops have faded enough to allow a rich and creamy dark chocolate character to emerge, touch of winey fruit and sherry,

Name: Happy Ending
Date: June 04, 2009
Mode: bottle
Source: Ale Atlanta
Vintage: 2008
big bitter dark chocolate, light winey sweetness, muddy

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 8/10; Flavor: 8/10; Palate: 9/10; Overall: 18/20
Rating: 4.2/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: ***+/4

Name: Happy Ending
Date: March 04, 2009
Mode: draft
Source: brewery
Vintage: 2009
Aroma: big citrus aroma is tuned in perfect with the roasted malt
Flavor: sweet roasty chocolate flavor works well with the big citrus
Overall: this batch is in perfect balance

Pours a opaque black colour with a medium tan head. Aroma first poured was extremely hoppy that moves into a roasty chocolate. Initial taste is chocolate and creamy. Finishing with a bitter hops and chocolate that has a good palate duration. Great head retention and very well balanced, really enjoyed this one from Sweetwater.

Bottle from JMichael. Pours opaque black with a tan head. Sweet chocolate and coffee nose. Medium body and light carbonation. The taste starts sweet and chocolaty and ends with a soft espresso finish.

12-ounce. Thanks BitBucket! Pours deep black with a thick, bubbly tan head. Big chocolatey nose with hints of roast and licorice along for the ride. Nice medium body with firm but unobtrusive carb. Big roast-forward chocolate flavors right from the attack through the mid-palate; everything from all these notes holds together consistently until a bit of ash and resin join for a light finish. Lovely stuff.

Dark brown, almost black, with no head or lacing. Bitter roasted flavor and aroma. Light coffee notes but the hop are way too bright in this beer. Thinner body.

(Bottle) Trade with Ughsmash. Thanks Jason. Dissipated beige head with an opaque body. Nose of soya sauce, molasses and fig. Flavour is tart and coffee. Decent.

Glad they changed the label on this one - that old one is...wow...holy shit...what can you say about that? Black body with a sparse dark brown head. Big roasty aroma with some chocolate and stinging alcohol. Fairly simple, burnt roast, peanut shells with a bit of alcohol and chocolate. Kind of watery as impies go. Bland, uninteresting, this ticks off a couple of the style’s requisite flavours but that’s all it does.