Most Premium Russian Imperial Stout - Port Barrel-Aged
Gigantic Brewing in Portland, Oregon, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Imperial Regular|
Score
7.59
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8.5 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
20 June 2025. “Iets voor den Erwin” @ Dracuna. Cheers to the whole GBV crew! Thanks to Meeki for sharing!
Jet black, small, foamy, dark beige head. Aroma of tawny port, melting fondant, dark fudge, pralines, marzipan, ripe brambleberry, walnut oil, tobacco, soy sauce. Taste has sweet prune, fig & brambleberry in a dark-chocolatey, almondy, walnutty malt body with touches of coffee, sourish berries and umami soy & black olive. Bitter earthy hops in the finish, pronounced espresso, dried fruits (sweetish and sour) and warming port-like alcohol (adding woody tannins too). Full body, oily texture, average carbonation. A 'perfected' BA treatment almost; complex and very enjoyable.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
20/VI/25 - 1Pt. 0.9Fl. Oz. bottle @ Planckgas release party, Baracuna (Gent), BB: n/a, 2022 vintage (2025-558) Thanks to all for sharing today’s beers!
Clear dark brown to black beer, creamy beige to brown head, non adhesive. Aroma: nice, very deep rich roast, alcohol, sugary, oxidized, port, madeira, more oxidized. MF: ok carbon, medium body. Taste: a bit sourish, dried fruits, good roast, very oxidized, alcohol, madeira, red wine, port, more alcohol, a bit spicy, ok. Aftertaste: oxidized, a bit sugary, very oxidized, port, madeira, ok!
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8.5 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 9 | Overall - 8.5
Most Most Premium, a RIS by old familiar Gigantic in Portland, Oregon (founded 2007), a brewery which charmed me already back in my early discoveries of U.S. craft brewing, aged in port barrels - there is no way this can go wrong. From a stubby 50 cl bottle, 2022 vintage. Medium sized, deep mocha-beige, densely creamy head, slowly opening but leaving a creamy ring and flat 'islands' in the middle until, after about a quarter of an hour, it has vanished completely; opaque black robe, allowing no light to shine through even when held against a bright lamp. Aroma of melting 'fondant' chocolate, cooked blackberries, tawny port piercing through but never dominating the beer, toffee, bayleaf, ground walnuts, liquorice (quite pronounced), molasses, brandy, vanilla-scenting oak wood, elderberry syrup, fig jam, sirop de Liège, chewing gum or even acacia gum, nougat, reduced red wine sauce, venison, sweet teriyaki or even a touch of oyster sauce, red wine-poached pear, almond, wet leather, ketjap manis, hint of rainwater, tobacco leaves and tar. Densely sweet onset, candied cherries mingled with fig jam, candied dates and medlar, with this sourish undertone adding a vinous touch and continuing all the way through a softly but adequately carbonated, very full and oily, 'heavy' body of toffeeish, black-chocolatey and nougat-like malts, remaining sweet yet acquiring a dash of coffee-like roasted bitterness further on (I guess this is the 'Russian' part of it, in the current Anglo-Saxon meaning). Notes of umami, primarily soy sauce and oyster sauce, accompany everything without pushing themselves too much onto the beer; meanwhile this underlying sourish (blue grape) streak gains momentum and combines with the residual sweetness in the end to indeed form a flavour combo reminiscent of tawny port - the oaky vanilla and drying tannins also unfolding at the right moment, further accentuating the vinous 'subcharacter' of this many-layered beer. Some citrusy (orange peel) hops are noticeable, too, not even in flavour but even in retronasal aroma - we are very clearly in good old U.S. territory here. Intense and demanding, but at the same time very classic for an U.S. style 'impy': this is exactly what I was longing for when buying this expensive bottle. It does not disappoint: the port adds more sourness than sweetness in this case (a basic red wine flavour, so to speak, even with a certain degree of grape skin astringency after swallowing), but this is still far removed from the 'sour stouts' sometimes resulting from wine barrel ageing. I guess port, contrary to wine, still contains enough sugars (and not enough bacteria perhaps) to keep the beer in the sweeter side of town instead of going all sour stout-like and though I suspect that this Most Most Premium is more than solid enough to withstand actual wine barrel ageing too, I am glad that this variant conveys everything I was expecting from a good old-fashioned barrel aged U.S. imperial stout - and more. Not the easiest one around to pour down on a still benign summer night, I guess, but so rewarding and complex. Gigantic, in spite of being now over a decade old, is still going strong in these challenging times, that much is certain.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle. 2022. Black beer with a brown head. Chocolate and port aroma. Chocolate and spice flavor with port and light caramel.Medium bodied. Chocolate and caramel linger with spice and port.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Panda thanks to Cloin: Poured a deep black with reddish edges, head was tan. Aroma is big boozy, port, dark fruits, roasted malts, chocolate, spice. Taste is port, boozy, roasted malts, berries, dark fruits, dark chocolate.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle at the 'Mere, Happy New Years (Tipples had) Tastang, thanks to Tips 21/01/22. Black with a decent tan covering. Nose is umami, spice, dark malts, chocolate. Taste comprises dark malts, spice, charr dried berry fruits, balanced alcohol. Full bodied, fine carbonation, semi drying close. Solid.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle at happy new year tasting. At Colin's. 21/01/2021. A jet black oily coloured pour with a a halo of dark tan head. Red wine, waxy, woody funk. Flavour is composed of semi sweet, light tang, woody, coconut, light tang. Palate is semi sweet, tangy, hihsih carbonation. Nice.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
22st January 2022
Tasting at Chez Bois. Thanks to Tips. Opaque dark brown beer, small tan head. Smooth palate, quite light and semi dry, decent fine minerally carbonation. Thin feeling dark malts but a tidy amount of dark chocolate. Light sweet oak dominated the mid. The Port barrel comes through clearly on the back end, sweet red berries, rich. Light finish. Well it could be a heavier and punchier affair but this is a pleasing barrel affair.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7
Bottle shared in Hazlemere - cheers to Tips. Pours clear black-brown with a small, foamy off-white head. Medium sweet with strong burnt wood, dried dark fruits, berries, raisins, baking cocoa. Full bodied with fine carbonation. Warming finish, more ashy roast, dryness, raisins, bitter dark chocolate. Good overall.