8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 8
12 ounce bottle into snifter; no bottle dating, but is a recent release. Pours opaque dark brown/black color with a 1 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a thin lace cap that lingers. Light spotty lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toasted dark bread, nuttiness, vanilla, oak, herbal, pepper, and pine; with lighter notes of molasses, smoke, charcoal, dark fruits, licorice, and roast/toasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/roast/bready malts and moderate earthy hop/oak notes; with great strength. Taste of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toasted dark bread, nuttiness, vanilla, oak, herbal, pepper, and pine; with lighter notes of molasses, smoke, charcoal, dark fruits, licorice, and roast/toasted earthiness. Light-moderate roast/char and herbal/peppery/piney hop bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, brown sugar, toasted dark bread, nuttiness, vanilla, oak, herbal, pepper, pine, molasses, smoke, charcoal, light licorice/dark fruit, and roast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts and moderate earthy hop/oak flavors; with a great roast/hop bitter/sweet balance; and zero acrid/astringent flavors after the finish. Light-moderate increasing dryness from hop/char bitterness. Light-medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, creamy/bready, and fairly sticky/chalky balanced mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 12%. Overall this is an excellent Russian imperial stout. All around great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malts and moderate earthy hop/oak flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on, with the modestly bitter/drying finish. This fits the RIS style perfectly on the level of hops and dark/roasty malts. Bottle doesn't mention anything about oak, but it's definitely there as stated in the site notes. A very enjoyable offering, and spot on style example.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Oct 2011
at 19:24