Bottle from De Hopduvel. Dark brown/black colour, nice dark brown layer of creamy foam. Full body! Nose of dark chocolate, pure cocoa, espresso, peated whisky, smoke. Very well balanced! Bitter, smokey with light sweet notes. Wow, impressive!

Imperial stout in ’whisky beer’ version, in the old sense of the word, i.e. brewed with whisky malt. Bottle at Beerlovers Bar in Antwerp. Thick, frothy, creamy, pale tan head, jet black colour. Lovely and rich aroma showing off the peat malt, with hints of smoked bacon, black olive, coffee grounds, whisky, milk chocolate, dried horsemeat, dried seaweed, butterscotch and indeed a clear but (relatively) subtle peat presence. Clean fruitiness in the mouth, date-like sweetness, bit candied even, countered by the deep sourishness of roasted barley and thick meaty umami, medium carbo, thick oily and ’fat’ mouthfeel, deep caramelly and nutty malt sweetness swiftly turning into a deeply bitter chocolatey roastedness with spicy hop bitterness accentuating it and again that subtle peat aroma retronasally; some warming alcohol in the end but otherwise well masked for a beer of this potency. Another great Kees!

Bottle (from ?). Pours black with brownish head. Aroma is sweet, malt, dark chocolate, some peat, and booze. Flavor is sweet and bitter, dark chocolate, roast, malt, slight coconut. Finish is dark chocolate bitter, and some booze. Overall: very good.

330ml bottle. Pours dark, tan head. Aroma is roasty, smoked. Taste is full on the palate with complex roasted malt and smoked meat flavours. Not a lot of peat but no complaints when the beer’s this good without it. A little cocoa emerging. A wondrous stout.

Bottle. Nose is soft, oily smoke, whiskey, dark malts,alcohol, hint of chocolate. Taste is smoke, peat, whiskey, emerging chocolate, molasses, ouch of wood, dark fruits with hints of red berries leading to a soft whiskey finish. Hints of salt and a faint medicine in the finish. Mouthfeel is rich. Delivered as promised.

This was poured into a mini-snifter.
The appearance was a subtle dark brown close to black color with a slim finger-ed white film of a head. Nicely paced dissipation. Film of lacing.
The smell started off some sweet meat gracing some dry cocoa bean, slight smoke, some ash. Light caramel malt, toffee as well.
The taste replicated the smell very nice. Nice sticky smoky/cocoa aftertaste leading into the finish.
On the palate, this one sat about a medium on the body. Mediocre sipping to sessionable quality about it. Carbonation rides fairly low.
Overall, smoked RIS, hell yeah, works like a charm, seems like a fitting beer for someone like me to go off on into the night. Wish I had another to sip on the side of the road. Hmmm...#BeerKangaroos on beer advocate # Kassik’s Smoked Russian Imperial Stout issues # lol yeah well.