Empress Catherine
Short's Brewing Company in Elk Rapids, Michigan, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Imperial Rotating Out of Production|
Score
7.10
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A dark opaque stout with sweet aromas of molasses and black currants. Rich flavors of dark chocolate and heavy roast provide a malty balance to the pronounced bitterness in the finish.
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CLW (16859) reviewed Empress Catherine from Short's Brewing Company 11 years ago
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 4 | Overall - 7
Thanks to Eric S. on gifting this to me after his trip to Michigan. 12 oz. bottle. Dark brown with dark crimson highlights around the edges. Almost no head at all in the snifter. Aroma is light roasted malts, bitter coffee bean and light chocolate.
The flavor is mostly a mirror image of the aromas. Light roast up front, caramelized sugars, bitter coffee grounds and light blackberry notes. Burnt sugar with an ashy texture. The body is very light. Way to light for the style with low carbonation. The flavor here is good for a base stout. If the brewer could beef up the body, this would improve the stout immensely.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
12 ounce bottle into snifter, bottled on 1/27/2014. Pours pitch black color with brown edges with a 1-2 finger fairly dense tan head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, roasted malt, char, toast, pine, floral, grass, light citrus, light smoke, and floral/roasted earthiness. Very nice aromas with good complexity and balance of deep roasted malt and a good amount of pine/floral hop notes; with great strength. Taste of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, roasted malt, char, toast, light smoke, floral, grass, pine, and floral/roasted earthiness. Good amount of pine/roast bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark chocolate, coffee, cocoa, roast, char, toast, floral, grass, pine, light smoke, and floral/roasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Very nice complexity and balance of deep roasted malt floral/piney hops flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a moderately creamy, smooth, and lightly chalky/sticky mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a light warming present after the finish. Overall this is a very nice imperial stout. All around good complexity and balance of deep roasted malt and floral/pine hop flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the ABV. A very enjoyable offering.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7
Bottle pour to pint. Brown/black with thin head that was quickly gone. Roast bitter aroma. Good but too plain for my taste.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
12 oz bottle. Pours black with a light tan head. Creamy coffee aroma, cocoa, hint of hop. Coffee with hops accenting it, pretty good bitterness, backed up by cocoa and cream. It’s pretty good, though a touch more complexity would make it even better.