@ Michigan Beerfest-on tap-pours a big rich brown head and black color. Aroma is dark malt-ashy, dark fruit. Taste is dark malt-ashy, dark fruit-tart, vinegar.

12 oz. bottle from goryskewych. Thanks George! Dark brown pour with medium tan head. Dark roasted malt aroma with big dark fruits and notes of coffee, chocolate and salty garbage. Taste is bitter coffee, soy sauce, sour cherry and chocolate. Full bodied. All off kilter with signs of infection.

Draught@Hop Devil Grill, NYC
Very dark brown color, creamy thick beige head. Roasted aroma, not coffee beans or malts but roasted vegetables (Swedish turnip, but it must be that tapioca). Full-bodied. Thick, I mean thick, cyrapy palate - sugary and vegatably! Alcoholic aftertaste. This is too sweet and too vegetably to be a great beer, but a decent dessert beer anyway.

2007 bottle shared by BBB63. Deep opaque brown body, medium light ochre head. Roasty, chocolaty aroma, dry and cakey, with just a touch of alcohol. Firm, bitter roasted malt body with chocolate and coffee. Bitter finish. Warming alcohol notes. Mostly roast- and chocolate-driven, this isn’t the most complex Imperial Stout, but it is still enjoyable.

Couple draught tulips at the brewery on 9/22/07
Two-fingers of tan head top the inky black body, slowly receding to cover and then ring, leaving blotchy lacing. Clarity is medium-low.
Very hoppy in the nose, with plentiful juicy fruits and moderate pine aromatics wrapping themselves up in lightly sweet chocolate fudge. You’d think it wouldn’t work too well, but as it’s a bit easier on the grapefruit side of things, I think the hop notes actually add an interesting array of aromatics that complement the sweet malts. Clean, fresh yeast, and low alcohol apparency for its size. The roast emerges with warming, but generally stays behind the fudgey-sweet maltiness. Certainly some light charred notes and coffee elements arise on the finish, somewhat drying out the beer and adding a pleasant balance. Very "full" aroma, though perhaps not overly intense in its strength, if that makes any sense.
Bitter hop notes dance with gobs of fat chocolate fudge notes, laid out over a deliciously chewy, rich body. Cookies, buttertoffee and vanilla notes all add moderate depth, as charred black malt notes and some minimal vinousness emerge at the end. It adds a lovely balance, though the strong hop flavors of juicy pine, tropical fruits and candied citrus seem to detract from the focus here. Not that the hops are unpleasant, but it’s just very different to witness such a large amount of flavoring hops in this style, without the usual onslaught of bitterness. The body loosens some, with warming, as more vanilla and caramel come out. Alcohol warmth is moderate, for its size, and the charred notes keep their place, more or less, without fatiguing the palate. Still, the complexity is a bit lacking, as there’s quite a lot of fruity/piney hop flavor and chocolate fudge interplay, without as much deep roast and vinousness as I’d like. Drinkable, though, that’s for sure.

Jimmack Invitational’07, shared by yobdoog (thanks Trevor). Pours a dead black color with some tan bubble in place of any good head or lacing. Aroma is light vegetable with some chocolate and roast. Taste is a bit more strong on the chocolate and roast. A good amount of alcohol felt in the flavor which does not go well with the beer’s light body. Finish is roasty.