8.2

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7

Bottled. Jet black oily thick pour with a tan head that subsides. Roasted malt aroma and bitter chocolate. Oily chocolate flavors with a bit of dark fruits. Quite good.

8.1

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5

Bottle. Whoa!!! This was a big beer. Black, velvety, thick. Big chocolate cooled head. Aroma was coffee, chocolate. Taste, was thick, rich coffee and chocolate but one can still detect the hoppy undertone. Really great!

8.6

Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5

2005 bottle, batch 7205.
Pretty thick and chewy, obviously, and actually I ended up liking the aroma more than the flavor. Too much soy/oxidized dark malt on the finish of the flavor. The nose had a beautiful, but now faded, hop nose, very fruity and wintergreen/resin-like. Prunes, black chocolate and plenty of drawn out vinousness with a big backing of roast. I haven't been floored by any of the 2005 or 2006 batches.

9

Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9

2004 bottle. Still pretty close to perfect. Hops mellow out wonderfully after a year. Tried side by side with the batch 7000 and the malt structure is fairly similar, albeit a little less brash and having less "Spanish coffee" influences, for lack of a better term. Thick, rich malt, but yet balanced and supremely thick, rewarding texture.

9

Appearance - 9 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 9

2003 Bottle. Oh wow. This is so young it’s ridiculous. Can hardly finish, too sweet yet, bitter hops are overpowering. This will age NICELY!!! 2003 bottle aged 13 months A bottle from an early November 2003 batch consumed 12/26/04. This stuff ages perfectly. The hops die off and you just have beautiful malt, a full body, thick chewy chocolate and roast. I can’t get enough of it.

9.8

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9.5 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 9.5

2002 bottled. Black, with deep, dark violet tinges around the edge. Head is almost nonexistant from this bottle, and there is plenty of burnt white colored lacing. Aroma is incredible. Strong, alcohol and malt with some rich maple smoked malt and some dark fruit aroma.
This beer opens up with huge malt flavor that is fairly sweet, somewhat oily texture, and full of alcohol and malt. There is plenty of brown sugar appeal, along with some smokey almost sweet maple sausage flavor. Has a nutty taste that becomes a little more apparent and a mild bitter quality comes out as the body progresses. Slowly a nice dry/woody hops flavor appears and inserts its flavor smoothly. Flavor is still bursting with ripe dark fruit and in the finish there is a woody hops appeal that is just apparent enough to balance out the malt. Has a wonderful balance of hops and malt. The best I’ve seen in an Imperial yet. This beer gives it all. Hops, roast, chocolate/coffee malt, dark fruit, alcohol, woody smoke flavor, some bitterness. . .and plenty more. Extra Full Body, perfect carbonation (almost none). After trying this, I had to order another. Incredible complexity, so many flavors to pick out. This beer will keep producing new sensations every time you try it. This would be incredible aged, as well. If this beer was more affordable, or I had more money, I would be drinking it daily. Rerate. Sure, this beer has some acidic moments and alot of hop bitterness, but again, huge flavors, rich complexity and potential for extended aging, comes at a price. If you can’t handle the high ABV, bitterness and some acidic notes, drink a different style of beer.

9.8

Appearance - 10 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 10 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 10

thanks to hog town harry for this one!
wow this doesn’t disapoint!!!
pours out like old nasty jet black motor oil. almost no head, very little carbonation. aroma is dark dark chocolate, cocao, and some coffee. flavour is dark chocolate, burnt malt, licorice, smoke, and overall quite sweet, with a nice bitter backdrop. hides the 11.5% extremely well. extremely easy to drink. beautiful stout!

8.6

Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 10 | Overall - 8.5

Аромат сладкий но умеренный, немного кофе и не самого горького шоколада, конечно солод отрывается во всей красе, сливочный, хотя легкие ноты хмеля есть, также немного темных фруктов и намек на сладкое пирожное. Цвет чернущий, пены почти нету, немного тонкой кофейной пленки. Вкус конечно отличный. Сладость очень выверена и круто коррелирует вместе с солодом. По началу снова много солода и сладости, немного изюма, намеки на сливу, но вообще шоколадные нотки, причем не только горькие, снова десертные позывы. При послевкусие кислинка но небольшая, затем средняя горчинка, но весьма продолжительная. Плавно сладость снова наступает со своей маслянистостью. Очень сбалансированный имперец.

7

that's got a hell of a kick to it. very aromatic hops. phew.

8

12/27/12 Thanks for the freshie Brian. Licorice, dark malt, chocolate.