Weyerbacher Heresy

Brewed by Weyerbacher Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Easton, Pennsylvania USA

Brought a bomber of this to share at the Smoke from the Oak release. Pours a deep dark black with a medium tan to brown head. Aroma is full of oak, and a sweet maltyness. Body is thick and has notes of chocolate and vanilla which play gracefully off of each other. Ends with some more oakiness and nice bitter chocolate finish.

Super black pour with chestnut highlights under a chocolate mousse head. No light can penetrate this black hole. Looks great...aroma is pretty good. The typical impy nose but very subdued...chocolate, espresso, it is smoothed out with a touch of vanilla, some bourbon and charred wood. The first thing I notice immediately as it hits my lips is that it is too thin. The typical coffee and chocolate duo I was looking for have been replaced by whisky and ash. There may be some licorice in there around in there.....fooling around with a fleeting sweetness....not real sure. Finishes with a touch of burnt coffee and smoke. Overall kinda bland. It is smooth and not nearly as viscous as other stouts but the flavors don’t entice me very much. Glad I only got one.

Pours a pitch black color with a fingers worth of dark brown head. Aroma is chocolate, booze, vanillas, hazelnut and coffee. Flavor is a lot of roast, some sweet malt in there a bitter coffee kick in the back which is not overwhelming in the slightest. Very smooth. If I was going to fault anything I’d say it’s a little sweet, but what a nice Imperial Stout.

(bottle from OSLO, thanks Al!) Pours black with a thin dark tan head that rings around the snifter. Aroma is initially strong of grape juice, subtle oak, licorice, and some chocolate as well with hints of smoke. Scents of dark roasted coffee also become stronger as this warms up, and the charred barrel scent really begins to dominate over the sweeter smells. The taste is strong with chocolate, prune, and roasted malt, but the oak, coffee, and vanilla really shows itself upon the finish with the coffee winning out in the end. The mouthfeel could stand to be thicker, as it was rather thin, but all in all this was a really good beer.

On tap at Zeno’s Pub - State College, PA. Nose opens with a dense chocolatey hazlenut cream, subdued and mashed up with some boozy char and rum. Sugary. Pours a black-brown, with a good finger of slow fading coffee and cream head. Flavor starts off with an awful lot of artificial flavors layered over a bubblegum back. Fruity and estery in that bad Weyerbacher way. Chocolate flavors give me harkenings of Hershey’s and a bland sugar and alcohol run. Booze filled in a coarse generic way. Warmer, the flavors actually find themselves blander, less interesting and unexciting. Too sweet, even for the style, with little balance from char, alcohol, oak, tannins or hops. Quite meh for a barrel aged beer.

On tap: Underrated bourbon barrel imperial! Pour was thick oily black with good light brown head. Aroma was all chocolate and bourbon, so glorious. Flavor blew me away with bourbon and vanilla and thick roasted stout malts. Put me in mind of Bailey’s and was wonderfully smooth and rich. Bottle: Much less interesting, lowers the overall score considerably. Everything was to a lesser degree.

Cellared for a couple of years...vigorous pour left a half finger dark tan head. Aroma is a little light, but very sugary and chocolatey...nice and inviting, if not overpowering like many others in its class. Flavor is very sweet with a strong bourbon note at the end. Milk and dark chocolate, a bit of roasted malt, and a pretty solid dose of vanilla in here as well. Think this one was served very well by a couple years in the dark...it has mellowed out into a great drink...slightly watery for an Impy would be my only negative. Look forward to trying this again in the future!

Nice thin chocolate head. Black opaque appearance. The head fades away rather quickly. Big alcohol/sweet aroma. I was wondering what that aroma was, and it is WHISKEY! Hell ya, I love the vanilla aroma with the sweet whiskey smell. The flavor is VERY good. If you love imperial stouts mixed with the bourbon/whiskey flavor(s), then you will love this beer. Very strong whiskey/roast taste that develops into a sweet whiskey/vanilla flavor. This beer is amazing, and I love the flavor. I think this could have a better palate and a stronger aroma, but the flavor is spot on.