Category Archives: Stout – Imperial

Prairie Vanilla Noir

Brewery: Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 11%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Krebs Brewing Co., Krebs, Oklahoma

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Stout aged in oak whiskey barrels with vanilla beans.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.3
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle with a Julian bottled on date of 32117, meaning that it was bottled on 17th November 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a thin mocha brown head that dissipated quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate fudge, vanilla, marshmallow, whisky, brown sugar and caramel.
Taste: Chocolate, whisky, quite boozy (but not in a bad way), vanilla, marshmallow and caramel.
Mouthfeel: Smooth, full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: A nice enjoyable sipper. Vanilla while there, seemed lighter than expected given the name, but not a big problem.

Mikkeller Beer Geek Vanilla Maple Cocoa

Brewery: Mikkeller ApS
Country: Denmark
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed by Lervig Aktiebryggeri, Stavanger, Norway

Brewer Description: (from can) Oatmeal Stout brewed with coffee, vanilla, cocoa & maple syrup.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.62
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.5

Intro: A 500ml can with a best before date of 31st October 2027. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: A very dark brown to jet black in colour with a half finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly and left only sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Maple, burnt sugar, molasses, cocoa and a touch of vanilla.
Taste: Heavy sweetness, maple syrup, burnt sugar, molasses, honey, cocoa, roasted coffee, toasted malt and some light bitterness from overdone caramel.
Mouthfeel: Medium to full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Way too sweet for me to fully enjoy. Started off well enough but because of its sweetness, it just got too much after a few sips and finishing the whole 500ml can took a while. The sweetness just needed some balance, perhaps from barrel aging for example, much like the Beer Geek Vanilla Shake BA Bourbon which was just outstanding.

Young Master Add Oil 2018

Brewery: Young Master Brewery
Country: Hong Kong
ABV: 9.2%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: 18 Grams specialty coffee. 40 IBUs. Robust, roasty, silky

Brewer Description: (from can) Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee Imperial Stout.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.15
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.1

Intro: A 330ml can, with a best before date of 10th December 2019, ‘dbl espresso’. Poured into a snifter.
Appearance: Black in colour with a just over one finger dark beige head that had pretty good retention and left spotty lacing.
Aroma: Roasty malts, milk chocolate, vanilla, caramel, oak, coffee and bourbon.
Taste: Roasted malts, milk chocolate, caramel, bourbon and oak with a touch of coffee.
Mouthfeel: Rich, creamy, medium to full bodied with soft carbonation.
Overall: A nice rich and creamy sipper. As far as I can remember, since I tried but did not review the original version, but this Bourbon BA version was much better with more complexity.

Prairie Prairie Noir

Brewery: Prairie Artisan Ales
Country: USA
ABV: 11%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed and bottled by Krebs Brewing Co., Krebs, Oklahoma

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Stout aged in oak whiskey barrels.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.32
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.2

Intro: A 12 fl. oz. bottle with a Julian bottled on date of 32017, meaning that it was bottled on 16th November 2017. Poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with a very thin mocha head that dissipates quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving sparse to no lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate, whisky, marshmallow, brown sugar, caramel and vanilla.
Taste: Chocolate, whisky, quite boozy (but not in a bad way), marshmallow, vanilla and caramel.
Mouthfeel: Rich, smooth, full bodied, with low carbonation.
Overall: A wonderful sipper with nice strong whisky aromas and flavours.

J. Wakefield That’s The Ticket

Brewery: J. Wakefield Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 13%
Style: American Imperial Stout

Brewer Description: (from bottle) Imperial Stout with chocolate, coconut, caramel & sea salt added

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.9
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: A 750ml bottle with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a MBCC 2018 stemmed tasting glass.
Appearance: Black in colour with only a very thin mocha brown head that stuck around throughout while leaving some nice lacing.
Aroma: Chocolate, caramel and vanilla dominate with hints of coconut and roastiness. A bit like chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce.
Taste: Chocolate and sea salt are strong, cacao, vanilla, lightly bitter dark chocolate, and hints of coconut, caramel and alcohol poking through.
Mouthfeel: Extremely creamy, full bodied, with low carbonation.
Overall: I thought that the sea salt was too strong. Normally I love caramel salted chocolate, but in this case, the strong sea salt combined with the booze and maybe even the light bitterness just didn’t work together as well as it could have for me.