Category Archives: Stout – Imperial

5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Epic Brewing Company, Stout - Imperial, USA

Epic Big Bad Baptist

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Brewery: Epic Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 11.4%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Malt – Maris Otter Malt, 2-Row Brewer Malt, Crystal, Light Munich Malt T1, 2-Row chocolate malt, 2-row black malt, roasted barley. Spices – Caffe Ibis and Cocoa Nibs.

Brewer Description: (from website) One Big Bad Imperial Stout with Cocoa nibs and Coffee beans. Each season’s release uses a different dark roasted coffee.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.56
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.5

Intro: A 22oz bomber from release batch #46 with a brew date of 24th September 2013 and a packaged date of 8th December 2014 and poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: The beer poured an opaque black colour with a one finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly leaving a thin whispy layer and spotty lacing.
Aroma: Strong aromas of chocolate mixed in with coffee, caramel and vanilla. There is also a hint of whisky alcohol aroma.
Taste: Taste is much like the aroma. Chocolate and espresso coffee dominate followed by hints of slightly burnt caramel and vanilla. There is also some roasted malts and oakiness but not a lot of whisky even though its aged in whiskey barrels.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied, light carbonation, smooth.
Overall: I’m a sucker for coffee, whisky and beer (my three favourite drinks). Now put together into a single drink, although the whisky is not so prominent here, this brew is fantastic. It’s right up there with Founders Breakfast Stout and Evil Twin Imperial Biscotti Break. Another must buy beer to add to my list.

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5 - Excellent (must buy), Beer Reviews, Founders Brewing Company, Stout - Imperial, USA

Founders Breakfast Stout

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Brewery: Founders Brewing Company
Country: USA
ABV: 8.3%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Double chocolate coffee oatmeal stout. 60 IBUs. Seasonal availability from October to December.

Brewer Description: (from website) The coffee lover’s consummate beer. Brewed with an abundance of flaked oats, bitter and imported chocolates, and two types of coffee, this stout has an intense fresh-roasted java nose topped with a frothy, cinnamon-colored head that goes forever.

My rating: 5
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.75
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.6

Intro: A 355ml bottle with a best by date of 7th August 2015 and poured into a snifter glass.
Appearance: It poured a deep dark brown to black colour with a very thin caramel head that disappears quickly. There is also some light spotty lacing.
Aroma: Strong roast coffee aromas with bittersweet chocolate along with a little root beer, toffee and caramel.
Taste: Amazing taste. First thought was that it tasted like biting into freshly roasted coffee beans… so good! It was then followed by bittersweet chocolate and hints of bitter hops.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, silky smooth with light carbonation.
Overall: This was really good and over the last few years my favourite non BA coffee based stout. Each year I buy at least a case of this just for myself to enjoy over the winter and over the course of the year until the next yearly batch is brewed. A must buy for me.

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4 - Good (buy), Beer Reviews, Evil Twin Brewing, Stout - Imperial, USA

Evil Twin I Love You With My Stout

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Brewery: Evil Twin Brewing
Country: USA
ABV: 12%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewed at Two Roads Brewing Company, Stratford, CT, USA for Evil Twin

Brewer Description: (from bottle) When I copied the famous Even More Jesus, I had to ask myself as an artist, why am I doing this? I didn’t honestly know. It was just an instinct about beer as pure form… in a sense this stout is like a metaphor for freedom – the sum of all the beauty that surrounds me and my perfect contemporary existence.

My rating: 4
My beeradvocate.com rating: 4.35
My ratebeer.com rating: 4.3

Intro: A 12 fl oz bottle with bottle date code of 287:14 (which assuming the 287th day of 2014 means a bottled date of 14 October 2014).
Appearance: The beer poured jet black into a snifter with a nice one finger tan head with good retention leaving spotty lacing.
Aroma: Smells sweet, dark cherry, vanilla, dark chocolate, raisin and there’s definitely alcohol, but nice smelling alcohol like brandy mixed with chocolate.
Taste: Like the nose, sweet lightly burnt sugar, fruit cake, dark cherry, plum, raisins with some dark chocolate in the background and slight bitter finish.
Mouthfeel: Full bodied with light to medium carbonation, slightly creamy.
Overall: I was pleasantly surprised with this beer. It was a more fruity stout than I expected and although sweet, it wasn’t overly done. The chocolate and dark fruit flavours worked together and even though it was boozy, it worked with this style and taste.

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3 - Indifferent (might buy, probably drink), Beer Reviews, Brouwerij De Molen, Netherlands, Stout - Imperial

De Molen Mout & Mocca

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Brewery: Brouwerij De Molen
Country: Netherlands
ABV: 11.6%
Style: American Imperial Stout
Other Notes: Brewery suggests to enjoy within 5 years

Brewer Description: Could not find any information on the website or the bottle other than to enjoy within 5 years and its name self description of malt and mocha.

My rating: 3
My beeradvocate.com rating: 3.79
My ratebeer.com rating: 3.7

Intro: Apparently there are two versions of this beer pre-2011 and the 2011 onwards. The pre-2011 version is 9.5% ABV while the 2011 and onwards version is 11.6% ABV. This beer was bottled on 31 January 2013 along with a note saying to enjoy it within 5 years. So currently this is still well within their suggested limits. However normally with coffee flavoured beers, I prefer to drink them fresher when the coffee flavour is usually more pronounced.
Appearance: A 330ml bottle poured into a snifter glass pitch black with minimal head that disappears quickly leaving some spotty lacing.
Aroma: Smelled of biscuit malt, some chocolate, leather and light coffee and toffee/caramel.
Taste: Similar to the smell, it leads with coffee and dark chocolate with a bitter finish. For such high ABV, there is almost no alcohol to taste.
Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, minimal carbonation and slightly sticky.
Overall: The lack of alcohol taste and nice coffee and bitter chocolate flavours make it easy to drink. But perhaps there is a lack of depth in flavours and also would prefer a bit more carbonation in it too.

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