[GABF 2004 first beer!!!!] A pitch black beer with no head. The aroma is sweet roasty with notes of alcohol, chocolate, and coffee. The flavor is also very sweet with notes of prunes, alcohol, coffee, and chocolate, leading to a very dry, woody finish.

Does the Emperor wear clothes? That was the question we (well, some of us...) asked as we opened the growler that JCapriotti brought to MrFacto’s ’Tosa tasting. I can state with confidence the Emperor does indeed wear clothes, though he is without the regal robes we thought he might possess. Deep murky brown body, thin/medium light cream head. Lots and lots of coffee in the aroma as well as chocolate, light touches of licorice, butterscotch, and the dull influence of oak and vanilla. Oak was definitely more evident in the flavor than it was in their barleywine, playing off the oily, silky body with its chocolate, coffee, and molasses. Salty and somewhat leathery. Light toasty notes peeked through the morass every now and then. Just a touch of dark fruit and a hint of vanilla. The woody flavors tended to dominate the innate beer nature, but the sum of the parts wasn’t complex enough to blow me away. Still, this was a treat to sample, and still definitely worth seeking out.

Sampled at MrFacto’s ’Tosa tasting, brought by JCapriotti in a nice brown growler. Hazy red body, thin off-white head dissipating to a few bubbles. Big caramely aroma with plenty of dark fruit, quite sweet and bready, with faint hints of wood and very mellow hops. The body was pure candy, very sweet and caramely with candied dark fruits and a nice alcohol kick. Oak and mellow grapefruity, piney hops provided a nice "background" taste, but the deep, dense breads, cherry, sugar, and even pastry flavors were dominant. I love sweet beers and this was wonderful.

2004 A very big thanks to Chris (csbosox) for promoting good beer throughout the country. I see the last handful of peoples’ ratings and I wonder before I drink it. Was this not meant to be? Then, after finally hand bottling (from an already handbottled bottle) two 8 oz beers (2 bottles of Old Foghorn, which I drank, then sanitized), I tried, for myself, what was left. Ahem, getting off on a tangent. I was expecting this beer to be thinned out. I poured it into a red wine glass (which is convex). The aroma takes a little while to build, but after holding my nose there, there was the distinct note of oak. Like a batch of cabernet sauvingon aged heavily on oak. Dark, sour cherries, hints of dry molasses. The appearance is superb; dark brown-tan color, with some dark reddish-copper hues swirling about. I swirl it gently, and it does not lace, but rather, coats the glass. It is heavily hazy and obviously highly unfiltered. I begin to drink, yes, here is the light thinning I have been expecting. But then, magnificently pure chocolate emerges, followed by rich salty smokey licorice flavor. It is both sweet and vinous at the same time, very homogenized flavors abound. The mouthfeel, all the while, coats the palate with its velvety smoothness, and thick, viscous body. The round vanilla flavors play with a delicate roast, as more layers of chocolate arise for a finish of pure bliss. It is everything I want from an Imperial Stout and has made me question my belief in the Dark Lord. Can this only be a young 2004 sample bottled from a growler almost 3 weeks ago??? I can’t even imagine what this would be like aged and fresh off a handpump at Free State. This is truly magnifcent beer and the people who received the growlers need to look past the slight wateriness and flatness from being growler-bottled (of course there’s no head, how can you fault the brewer for that?). If there is a type of beer that can handle this consistency, it sure is this. Consistency not unlike an English barleywine. Some will fault the thinner than usual body, but I can not. Go Kansas.

2000 vintage, hand bottled from Csbosox. Consumed on 9/22/2005 with OldGrowth. A bit of a let-down, was this. Not so much on flavor or anything, and it really wasnt even watery for its age, even pouring a nice, albeit small tan head. A very chocolatey beer, lots of peanut brittle and chewy, salty toffee. The oxidation has created some odd flavor combinations among the malt. I can see the traces of the brilliance from the 2004. Still, flavor does not have the incredible complexity that the earlier one does and the oxidation works against it, giving it much too dry a flavor, with some dullness on the end. Still a great beer, and pretty impressive that it’s even this good, being 5 years old and then hand-bottled. Certainly in no shape to apply numbers. I’m sure it would be fantastic at the brewpub.

A special thanks to csbosox for sending this one! Bottled from a growler. Deep black color, almost totally opaque, virtually no light comes through except at the edges where a deep chestnut color is discernable. Virtually no carbonation or head, not unusual in the bigger beers of this style. The aroma is extremely complex and takes on many different aspects as it goes through the warm up. Rich malts, molasses, espresso, fruits, alcohol, chocolate, they are all in there. The flavor is delivered on a medium palate, and it appears thicker than it feels on the tongue. Overall this is slightly sweet, not cloying and the flavors parallel the aromas. This one avoids the overly done bourbon taste so many of these barrel brewed big beers can attain. Very well done IS and this one can go head to head with the best ones.