t Smisje Catherine The Great Imperial Stout

Brewed by Brouwerij De Regenboog
Style: Imperial Stout
Assebroek-Brugge, Belgium

On tap at The Thirsty Monk, Asheville. Mild sweet malt aroma, bit of toffee, molasses, and alcohol vapor. Quite herbal in the nose, too. Musky and bit earthy. Dark brown cloudy with thin off-white lacing head. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Fairly sweet throughout like a barley wine, not an imperial stout. Good level of bittering hops to finish. Fairly thin with alcohol notes, toffee, and rich malt. Big bitter hops finish with strong bitter after. Kickin’, but this is no impy stout - really more like a barley wine.

330 ml. Not quite opaque, chocolate body with a three-finger head that settles into a small lasting ring. Complex aroma of raisins, spicy yeast, date bread, rum cake, coffee, molasses and tart cherry. Flavor is sweet of the front with dark fruit, cocoa, and tart fruit; then turns drier with some leafy-woody hops, rum, and toasted oak. Yeast, wheat, and wooden bubblegum aftertaste on the warm finish. Medium body is watery and dried on the finish with hops and alcohol.

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11.2oz bottle, courtesy of argo0. Thanks, Aaron! Pours a murky, amber-brown color; huge, fizzy khaki head with excellent retention and medium-bubbled lacing. Very odd aroma: lightly tart, yeast, and fruitiness; dense, strange take on an imperial stout. Medium-to-full mouthfeel: bananas, yeast, esters, and lots of breadiness; chewy, sticky malts and maple syrup; strange Belgian take on an imperial stout; red fruits and very estery. Medium finish: dry breadiness, sweet malts, and bananas.

(33cl bottle) Large tan head atop hazy dark brown body. Aroma is medium sweet, musty/yeasty, some candi sugar, banana, light roast. Taste is medium sweet, Belgian yeast, some candi sugar, banana, musty sourness, alcohol. Medium-full body, some acidity. Imperial stout?! NFW!

I never would have pegged this one for an imperial stout if it didn’t say so on the bottle. More of a strong Belgian dark, in my opinion. Pours a near-opaque dark brown with visible sediment and a huge, fluffy white head that fades quickly into a creamy film. Aroma of sugared dark fruit, figs and raisins, with very little of the roasted character I tend to associate with an imperial stout. Flavor is much the same: sticky sweet dried fruit and big alcohol. Thick mouthfeel. Good, but not really true to style.

Savannah, Ga. - Habersham Beverage Warehouse - 11.2 oz bottle. Pours a murky dark brown with a sticky off-white head - sticky lacing. Aroma is somewhat off-putting - closest proximity is to smelly feet with some fruit jam. Flavor improves the standing of this selection somewhat with some licorice notes, sweet chocolate, raisins, and some kids vitamins. Decently thick mouthfeel. Imperial Stouts are not an area that Belgium excels in I have come to find out.

Unsurprisingly pale colored for an Imperial Stout, the beer is a dark, concentrated amber color as it sits in my 25cl tulip glass, but shows a lightly hazy, light-cranberry red color when held up to the light. It is topped by an initially three-finger thick, tan colored head that is held up by a persistent carbonation. Despite being so light in color I do get a solid, city-roast coffee note from the aroma as I am pouring this beer. A deeper inspection yields smoky dark grain notes, some salty peat, some sort of savory component that makes me think of umami rich miso, and a bit of vegetal seaweed.

A fair bit sweeter than I was expecting, though it is fairly light considering the strength of this beer (and for that matter considering other Imperial Stouts). The beer finishes with a persistent, lightly burnt cabbage note that I find contributed from roast grains / malt at times. Lightly roasted coffee flavors, mix with just a hint of smoke, some notes of cocoa towards the middle . This has a somewhat / fairly bitter finish to it that is as much a product of the roast grains as it is from hop notes. This is actually quite light and quaffable, especially when considering the strength and the alcohol seems to be quite well hidden. Some light fruitiness reminiscent of light roasted and smoke prunes and raisins helps to pick up the complexity just a bit.

Not a bad beer, but I was definitely expecting a bit more from this beer. I do like how light bodied and quaffable this is, I like that this is fairly subtle compared to others of the style and I like how much roast character is noticeable despite being so light colored. The vegetal note gets to be a bit too much in the finish, and the flavors are not quite so well integrated as I could want them to be.

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