Vinos Imperial Stout

Brewed by Vinos Brewpub
Style: Imperial Stout
Little Rock, Arkansas USA

GABF 2006. Alas, Arkansas has been done!!! Body is an abyss black. Nose is chocolate notes, roasted malts, light anise and dark fruits. Taste is chocolate more roasty notes, dark fruits, light sugared coffee, and burnt brownies. Body is medium with mild carbonation. Finishes with more chocolate, sweet and roasty malts, and burnt chocolate cake.

GABF 2006. Pours to a murky chocolate brown body with a brown head. The aroma is sweet milk chocolate chips and deep malts. The flavor is a charred roasty chocolate, grassy hops. The palate is really roasty and charred. Quite good IMO.

GABF <P> Musty chocolate aroma, old milk, stale burnt malts. Deep black body with a thinnish, bubbly mocha head. Fore is stale chocolate milk and is thin on the palate. some coffee/espresso notes but even they are less than fresh tasting. Finish is thin and quite un-Impy like. Just doesn’t deserve the Imperial in front of its name.

Draught. Pours opaque jet black with a small tan rocky head and lined lacing. Aroma is yeast (leather, sweat) and caramel dark roasted malt, coffee and molasses. Dark fruit (prune, plum) flavor, port and dark roasted caramel malt (cookie), medium sweetness and no bitterness, acidity. Dark bodied and smooth palate.

(4/12/06) Much better than the last time they brewed this. Most definitely better. Very full, heavy, and soft mouthfeel. Lots of chocolate, dark roast malt. Fairly sweet and no bitterness. One of the better beers I’ve had in a while. (4/23/05...scored 2.7...4,4,5,3,11) I went to Vino’s to have a few drinks before I saw Old Crow Medicine Show in concert in downtown Little Rock and I wasn’t disappointed with the brews at all. I couldn’t sense much aroma on this at the time. Flavor was coffee/chocolate malt and a decent amount of bitterness that lasted through the finish. Tasted kind of dry.

Draft at Fest: Deep brown hue with reddish highlights. Frothy off-white head and no lace. This had a weak nose with hints of toasted and crystal malts, boysenberry, coffee, earthy yeast esters, and grassy hops. The taste was bittersweet mocha with coffee and smoky undertones. Not much depth and had an mineral off-taste. The feel was metallic and fizzy. Less than average, not imperial tasting. My first Arkansas beer and maybe my last.

Draft: Deep chestnut with crimson edges. Off-tan foam ring. Boring aroma of roast, mineral, and black malt. Hints of licorice, toasty esters, berries, and cocoa. Soft cabonation. Very thin with some grit. Soft vanilla, roasted malt front balanced with an unpleasant medicinal touch. Dry and intense roast/black malt interplay with touches of charcoal and muted leafy hops. This is a mediocre Dry Stout. Far from an Imperial.