Riptide 8%

bottle. Dark caramel / black in colour with a light tan thin head. Some lacing and good legs. The aroma is earthy, woody and a hint to smoke like athatched cottage with a big fire. Also some esters in the aroma like blackberrys. Flavour is smoky / chocloately with a bitter finish.

Bottle at hostinec Richtar Jakub, Bratislava. Almost black color with medium beige head. Aroma of chocolate, caramel, roasted malt. Taste, bitter chocolate, caramel, milk coffee. Long impressive bitter finish. Nice.

330ml bottle

Pours pitch black with a bubbly white head. Aroma of sweet vanilla and roasty malts with hints of hops. Taste is heavily roasty with notes of bitter hops, chocolate and coffee. Finish is quite roasty with coffee notes. Okay, slightly unbalanced imperial stout.

1pt 6.4oz bottle as "Old World Russian Imperial Stout" 8.2%abv - poured a pitch black color with a medium sized off-white head. Aroma was dark, mild roast malt, with notes of coffee, chocolate. Flavor is chocolate. Rich, creamy. Pretty enjoyable. Alcohol is a bit noticeable.

750mL bottle pours deep mahogany with nice firm looking mocha head. The aroma has dark roasted malts, dark roasted coffee and a mild level of spicy black licorice. The taste is rich with plenty of dark roasted malts moving into near burnt malts and some spiciness kind of like black licorice. Wow this is lovely, rich, highly roasted and all good. I dig it!
Earlier Rating: 2/5/2009 Total Score: 3.5
Courtesy of THE tpd975. Pours deep brown with amber edges and almost no head. The aroma is roasty malts, mild wood and smoke to go along with a pulse of vanilla. The taste is roasty moving toward burnt malts and then into wood and mild smoky peatiness. Pretty nice stuff. It thins out into the finish. Starts bold and then finishes with smooth and light lingering notes of wood, peat, smoke and molasses.

Bottle. Pours with brown airy head. Very dark, almost black, brown colour. Aroma of caramel, coffee, chocolate, raisins, roasted. I had sweet expectations, but this beer kicked me in head with bitterness. Also, strong hops flavour appeared in finish. Higher ABV noticeable. Not a bad beer, but the hoppy bitterness and alcohol annoy me a little in this beer.

Bottle from Vinmonopolet. Pours dark brown, almost black with a small light brown head. Aroma of roasted malt, chocolate, coffee, dark fruits and hops. Nice stout with a good balance. Dry and a bit bitter finish.

33cl bottle. Poured a black beer with frothy and tan head. Good formation and perfect lacework. Aroma is toasty and dark chocolate. Flavour has mocha, dark chocolate, toasted malts notes. Slightly hints of vanilla and licorice. The final is dry, toasty, moderate bittery and long. Carbonation is medium. Body is medium to high.

Bottle from BrewDog online store. It pours very dark brown, with a big beige head. The nose is coffee, dark fruit (particularly blackcurrant), chocolate, nut, liquorice and cake. The taste is dark chocolate, treacle, caramel, filter coffee, dark fruit (blackcurrant and plum), toast, roasted malt, solid bitterness and alcohol warmth, with a dry-roast finish. Medium to full body and moderate carbonation. Tasty and very drinkable.

Capped 750 from the Sacramento Total Wine. Pours dark brown/black with a creamy 3 finger dark tan head. Aroma seems mostly chocolate. Full bodied. Flavor is treacle, dark fruit, chocolate, coffee, maybe hops. Hops? There’s too much going on here to distinguish hops. It’s fairly bitter. This is a reasonably, or maybe unreasonably, complicated ale. One thing for sure - it’s a best buy considering the amount of ingredients.
Earlier Rating: 9/15/2008 Total Score: 3.8
Bottle from Johns Marketplace in Portland, OR. Pours a very dark ruby brown with a good tan head. There is a rich dark fruit aroma along with toasted/burnt malt and coffee. A pleasant aroma. Full bodied with near chewy carbonation. Flavor is a bit of tar, very, very smooth burnt malt, and coffee. With time chocolate is detectable. Then it all coalesces into a well balanced and sturdy stout. Soft and smooth it is. Also very tasty.