12 ounce bottle. Pours reddish brown with a medium tan head, Average head retention and lacing. Aroma of roasted malts, toffee and some fruity notes. Taste is roasted malts, coffee, toffee, nuts and subtle fruit. Medium bodied.

Dark brown, cola-looking beer - quite a roasty aroma, with touches of brown sugar, caramel, and dark fruit - medium-bodied (light for an imperial) - quite roasty, with strong coffee and tobacco bitterness - toffee sweetness arrives later, with some fruity notes - a lot of burnt sugar and caramel popcorn in the finish - a little spicy alcohol in the finish - more like an imperial porter, but a fairly tasty one

Bottle, 7.5%. Sweet, salty and dusty aroma. Almost black colour with a red shine, seems clear. The flavour is a little sweet with some salt. Some barley bitterness which gets a bit much after a while.

(Bottle 35,5 cl) Courtesy of CaptainCougar. Clear, reddish chestnut brown with a light brown head. Spicy vanilla in the nose with a rather burned note. Body is only medium with sweetish, roasted malt and notes of dried fruit with a burned edge. The finish is dry with a subdued bitterness. Not a huge Imperial stout, but a very pleasant one. 230807

A slightly hazy amber beer with a thin beige head. The aroma has notes of berries and chocolate as well as lighlty roasted notes on a slightly acidic back ground. The flavor is sweet and very roasted combined with a light touch of chocolate.

2004 (probably) bottle sampled side by side the 2005 bourbon aged version on 12/22/2005 with Rastacouere and Siroy. Utterly clear and filtered pour shows peanutskin undertones amid a burgundy and dark leather brown body with a fully dissipating beige head that provides no lacing. The aroma boasts of light Spanish coffee (tons of anise in it too), salted peanuts and very dry berry skins. Notes of light vanilla-butterscotch and moderately dry chocolate. Only a soily, light fuzziness of green hops to be found in flavor and only then mostly retronasal. The flavor is coffee and dark chocolate, with light molasses and peanut skins, crusty, earthy barley roast and a chewy, moist honey graham crackers dipped in lightly sweet cream. Coffee with sugar in it, though at least a fair sense of roastedness, with light grapiness and finishing with cookies and cream in the background of the roast. As Rastacouere notes, the mouthfeel is rather insipid. Large, forced bubbles in a sagging body with tremendous filtration effects leading to a lightly watery texture and absolutely no thick, chewy substance that an Imperial stout must have. Again, no off-flavors, and no alcohol noted, but just underwhelming of texture to the extreme.

Deep, opaque brown-black, medium tan head dissipating to a small coating of bubbles. Big roasty nose with dark chocolate and coffee notes. Strong roasted malt body with coffee and a strange tangy acidity around the edges. Strains to reveal a touch of dark fruit and a hint of sweetness, but remains mostly roasted malts and coffee, perhaps with a dissolved cough lozenge thrown in for good measure. I wouldn’t classify this as an Imperial Stout, but it is still a tasty beer. Thanks Tom (CaptainCougar) for the bottles!

Thanks to MrFacto for this one! A vigorous pour right into the middle of the snifter raised a small head that quickly became a tan ring around the edge of the glass. Opaque black in color. This has a powerful entoxicating aroma! I love it, and this hasn’t even warmed up yet! Chocolate, coffee, rich roast malt, alcohol, very complex and inviting. Just the right thing for a night approaching single digit temperatures here in the Tennessee Mountains. The flavor is mildly bitter delivered on a smooth medium palate. There was no date on this bottle to indicate it’s age, but I think this one would have improved with a bit more time. Still a decent Imperial Stout.