35.8cl corked and caged bottle pours deep darkness with a big tall three inch light mocha colored head of foam. The modest aroma offers up mineral notes, blunted dark roasted malts, burnt malts and then a touch of dark fruity esters. The taste has dark roasted malts heading into some chocolate and mineral notes that are punctuated by above average carbonation. It then gains flavors like a bit of sweet dark fruity esters and then yeasty Belgian candi sugar into the finish.

375 mL bottle. First of all, guess I should have thought a bit when I saw the bubbling as it warmed up. Anyway, cork blew off and left a mark in the ceiling as I was untwisting the cage, then the requisite foaming onto the floor (and fortunately not my keyboard). Pours black with a foamy (obviously) tan head. Creamy cocoa aroma leaning toward vanilla, coffee hint. Coffee and cocoa with a definite tartness. It’s still pretty decent, even if it’s not supposed to be like this.

First, a note on the price - I bought this 375ml bottle for 4.99 - so, this means the 750 price would be 10 bucks - 10 bucks - in Colorado - for a barrel-aged imperial stout from FUCKING NEW ZEALAND - in contrast, I can’t even get a BA impy stout made in the same CITY I LIVE IN for less than 20 bucks - anyway - the cork shot out of this sucker before I even got the cage off - scared the hell out of me - so, highly carbonated - I had to let it sit and "gas out" for about ten minutes before I could pour it - understandably, it pours with a huge, frothy, lasting head - probably the best retention I’ve seen on something so high in ABV - nose has a ton of Pinot notes - a lot of oak and tart raspberry acidity - this works quite nicely with the deep bittersweet baker’s chocolate aromas of the malt - light sourness - the carbonation is a bit rough, even after prolonged time in the glass - strong flavors of black raspberry, cherry, oak, tannins - the acidity is a bit high, but is somehow a bit more bearable due to the light sour character of the beer - strong baker’s chocolate and moderate char on the tail end - a light dry mineral note - bittersweet finish - an interesting brew, with a fair amount of complexity, but the acidity and high carbonation keep me from enjoying it as much as I could - still quite like it, though.

Bottle. Black beer with a brown head. Malt and red wine aroma with light toffee. Red wine and malt flavor with light chooclate and darker malts. Medium bodied. Red wine and darker malts linger with light chocolate.

Bottle @ Dan’s house. Pulled off the cage and the cork shot off like a MOTHER FUCKER. Holy shit this had a big carbonated head. Black appearance with a brown head. A bit funky, fruity, lightly vinous, a bit roasty aroma. Dark fruity, grape, somewhat vinous, roasty dark chocolate malty flavor with infection notes. Fuck man.

375mL bottle, pours black with a voluminous beige / tan head. Aroma of roast, chalk, some woody notes, red wine and subtle coffee. Flavour brings out a very vinous dominated character, with oak, slight tartness, and red wine - finishing on red wine and boozy notes. Palate is light-bodied for the style, almost completely overtaken by the wine, and quite alcohol. Decent impy.

Pours solid black with a large, lasting head.Nose shows char, roasted malt, cocoa and dark chocolate with a little smoke.Similar flavours, but less complex. Roasted malt, booze. Not much else.Body could be a bit thicker.Pretty straightforward, whereas considering the alcohol content I would expect something more complex.

Charcoal nose. Cola brown, thick sticky beige head. Raisin and charcoal. Somewhat lacking in body. Tart on the front end, bitter and slightly chalky on the back. Alcohol well masked, almost doesn’t drink like an imperial stout at all, foreign stout maybe.