Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a thin dark foamy head. Aroma of roasted malt with some coffee notes though not as dominating as I was expecting from reading all those ratings. Taste is dominated by roasted malt, caramel and coffee with a real creamy texture that I enjoyed. Bitter ending but not as hops explosive as I was expecting from other reviews. Overall, this is a good imperial stout but to me it doesn’t match Bells Expedition or even Storm King; but then again, I’m not the most avid stout drinker out there. Thanks to MAP for the bottle. Re-rate 2017: Enjoyable imperial stout but still missing a little something to match bers such as Peche Mortel.

Bottle. Brown beer with an off-white/beige head. Rich sweet malt aroma with a slight smokiness to go with a little chocolate and toffee. Rich malt flavor, moderate smokiness, some plum and date fruitiness - but lots of chewy malts. Alight alcohol presence. There’s almost a Belgian quad complexity underneath everything else that remins me of a Rochefort 10 with richer malts.

2000 vintage corked bottle, generously provided by Odeed. Shared with Olivier_MTL on 6/18/2005 post-ABF.
This unfiltered creation pours a thick-looking mahogany and dark-chocolate brown, with some dark beige/brass tones on the edges, quite murky, even though I was careful not to disturb the yeast. Head is a medium-tan, large initially, receding fairly rapidly to settle out at a retained covering. Head is lightly fluffy, but has some large bubbles in it. Lacing is left on the glass. Aroma has a full sherry oxidation note, which I always seem to pick up first, followed by molasses, dry toffee, crusty brown bread, vanilla extract and a subtle but strong Belgian yeast which is both perfumey (though that is held in check by the strong sweetness) and spicy, of hazelnuts, clove, light orange-rind notes and possibly some small amounts of alcohol. Flavor is very sweet, and richly malted. The extraction is wonderful as I have come to expect from AleSmith. Full toffee and marshmallows, with rich caramel and light chocolate. There is definite warmth from a vanilla liqueur-like heat which provides both drying alcohol and spice notes. Finish shows sherry, strong, oily vinous notes and bits of chocolate. My sample certainly was medium-full to full-bodied on account of the huge maltiness. Mouthfeel was slick, with low carbonation. The biggest problem I had was the lack of complexity. Aside from the caramel/toffee malt sweetness and spicy yeast and alcohol esters, there wasn’t much else going on. It’s hard to believe this bottle would be passed its prime at only 5 years of age, so I’m not really sure what the problem was. To be fair, I think I should get a bottle of Abbaye Des Rocs Grand Cru and age that for some time and compare it to an aged bottle of this. Still, as disappointed as I was, it was not a bad beer in the least.

An unclear red-orange beer with a disappearing white head. The aroam is very fruity combined with notes of raspberries and brettanomyces. The flavor is sweet with notes of wood and raspberries - the alcohol tickles the tongue, but can’t be tasted.

Thanks to Foolish_Mortal for sending this one out! Huge frothy white head that lingers over a medium yellow beer. Spicy lemony aroma. Sweet balanced flavor mixed with some acidity. Nicely balanced, with just enough hop bitterness to keep things interesting.

Bottle. Rich amber color with no head. Sweet malt aroma with some yeast/spiciness. Sweet malt/honey flavor with some spice. Thick bodied. Hides alcohol very well. Much better tasting with a bit of the yeast swirled in. Leaves a bit of spiciness and sweetness on the tongue.

Ruddy orange-brown body, medium off-white (buff) head. Caramely, toasty, hoppy aroma. Well-made but not unique, with caramel and toasty malts dominating the flavor profile along with piney, grapefruity hops. Slight aging mellowed the hops a bit, allowing the malts to dominate the flavor profile. Finished with a subtle ethanol punch. Very good, but not stellar. Thanks to humulus for opening this bottle!