8.5/10
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Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
750 ml bottle into snifter; Batch #1, bottled in Fall 2014. Pours nearly pitch black color with a 1-2 finger fairly dense tan head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a moderate amount of streaming carbonation retaining the cap. Aromas of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toffee, toast, dark bread, molasses, raisin, plum, fig, date, light licorice, herbal, floral, light smoke/char, and yeast/roasted earthiness. Damn nice aromas with great complexity and balance of dark/roast/bready malt, and moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop notes; with good strength. Taste of big dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toffee, toast, dark bread, molasses, raisin, plum, fig, date, light licorice, light smoke/char, herbal, floral, and yeast/roasted earthiness. Fair amount of herbal/roasted bitterness on the finish; with lingering notes of dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, caramel, toffee, toast, dark bread, molasses, raisin, plum, light smoke/char, and yeast/roasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; with a great roasted bitterness/sweetness balance and zero cloying flavors after the finish. Light carbonation and fairly full bodied; with a very smooth, creamy, moderately silky, and lightly slick/sticky/chalky mouthfeel that is great. Alcohol is very well hidden with only a light warmth lingering after the finish. Overall this is an incredible Russian imperial stout style. All around awesome complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/roast/bready malt and moderate fruity yeast/earthy hop flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the huge ABV. A highly enjoyable offering.
Tried
from Bottle
on 18 Sep 2015
at 22:55