Sticky Stout
Pizza Port Bressi Ranch

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From:
Pizza Port Bressi Ranch
 
California, United States
Style:
Russian Imperial Stout
ABV:
8%
Score:
89
Avg:
4.03 | pDev: 6.7%
Reviews:
16
Ratings:
24
Status:
Retired
Rated:
Apr 10, 2015
Added:
Sep 09, 2007
Wants:
  5
Gots:
  0
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
 
Rated: 4.03 by wethorseblanket from California

Apr 10, 2015
 
Rated: 4 by GClarkage from California

Jul 08, 2014
 
Rated: 3.75 by Zbeetleman from California

Jul 09, 2013
 
Rated: 4.25 by Devinph from California

Feb 07, 2013
 
Rated: 4 by t0rin0 from California

Dec 11, 2012
 
Rated: 3.5 by John11486 from California

Feb 16, 2012
 
Rated: 4 by pmarlowe from Virginia

Feb 05, 2012
Photo of Sammy
Reviewed by Sammy from Canada (ON)

3.75/5  rDev -6.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
On tap at Carlsblad. A good stout, though not a RIS. Way above average roast, too much roast. Dark brown, lacey. Overcarbonated. Drinkable, I would have a pint of it. A little chocolate, coffee, hops, sugar. Drying bitter finish. Needs more balance, integration of the characteristics.
Jan 23, 2012
Photo of ehammond1
Reviewed by ehammond1

4.03/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
On Tap

Pizza Port
Carlsbad, CA

Nearly black throughout with brown and ruby edges and a thin dark brown cap--spiderwebs of messy lace are left down the glass.

Nicely balanced aroma consisting of roasted malt and sweet chocolate and molasses. The sweeter elements emerge more and more as the beer comes to room temperature.

The flavor is similar combining roasted malt and sweet chocolate and molasses flavors. There's also a bit of dark fruit, prune and raisin, thrown in the mix as well. Moderate bitterness.

Medium to full bodied with moderate carbonation.

A very nice RIS. I'm disappointed I hadn't ordered this one sooner.
Nov 26, 2011
 
Rated: 4 by TheRealDBCooper from Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands

Nov 14, 2011
Photo of HopHead84
Reviewed by HopHead84 from California

4.05/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
7/172011

On tap at Pizza Port Carlsbad.

A: Black and opaque with a creamy one inch head. Very good retention.

S: Dark chocolate and coffee accompany roasted malt and blackstrap molasses. Light licorice notes with a faint nuttiness.

T: Dark chocolate with an upper moderate roasted malt profile (almost burnt) and a healthy dose of molasses. Coffee is earthy and bitterness is at a moderate level. Finish is dry and bitter with coffee and dark chocolate.

M: Full body with moderate carbonation. Mouthfeel is creamy, chewy, and sticky.

Overall: This is a beer to warm your blood on a Siberian winter night. A nice Russian Imperial Stout, though, I think I'll have a Poor Man's now as it's 75 and sunny here in Carlsbad.
Jul 18, 2011
Photo of felipe2toes
Reviewed by felipe2toes from California

4.35/5  rDev +7.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Enjoyed this on tap at Pizza Port Carlsbad.

Poured into a pint glass with a thick creamy head. Great retention and plenty of lace. Jet black beer.

Smells of deep roasted coffee, molasses, and chocolate.

Tastes of dark chocolate and coffee, with hints of bourbon/vanilla. There's even some dark fruit on the finish.

Nice carbonation, starts creamy and finishes dry, and actually quite drinkable.
Jun 10, 2011
Photo of brokensail
Reviewed by brokensail from California

4.03/5  rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
On-tap at Carlsbad

A: The pour is essentially black with a sturdy tan head that clings to the glass and leaves some nice lacing.

S: The nose is fairly hoppy, which I was note expecting. The dark chocolate, and nice roasty quality were there, though and quite nice.

T: Semi-sweet chocolate along with some dark bitter chocolate goes well with the moderate roasty quality of the beer. Again, a strong hop flavor that is slightly grassy but leans more toward bitter citrus rind.

M: The body is medium with a fairly lively carbonation, which makes the beer a bit easier to drink.

D: I was expecting more of a milk/sweet stout (no description on the board), but was still pleased with what I ended up getting. A nice and easy to drink stout.
Aug 31, 2010
Photo of Gobzilla
Reviewed by Gobzilla from California

3.95/5  rDev -2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4
Poured a dark brown with a nice finger of head that had and left a good amount of blotchy lacing on the glass. The aroma was pretty different for a stout due to the big hop presence but still had chocolate roasted malts and also had some citrus as well. Upfront the hops were a little more punchy than expected but was still quite tasty meshing with the chocolate malts, roastiness, and citrus accents. The brew was medium to full body with a fair amount of carbonation that had a roasty, slight creamy and hop bitter finish. It drank really good but to me it was not something I look for when I wanna drink a stout.
Aug 30, 2010
Photo of Kegatron
Reviewed by Kegatron from Pennsylvania

4.28/5  rDev +6.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
On tap @ the Carlsbad location on 11/14/09. Served in a pint glass.

Pours straight up black in the glass, with a finger of dark mocha head. This stays creamy around the edges, with some wispy foam in the middle, leaving back a nice looking drenching foam that coats the sides of the glass. The aroma smells of chocolate roast and burnt sticky molasses. Some toasty roasted coffee character emerges as well, once this warms up some, as does a hefty dose of green smelling citric hops.

The taste is dark and toasty in the mouth, with a big mouth-coating dose of sticky sweet chocolate, caramel, and citrus, which adds a bit of a fruity splash to the proceedings. Burnt roast, coffee, and hops lay a crunchy bitterness on the tongue, finishing this with a deep roasty feel (and a flush of sweeter malt) that just STICKS in the mouth, nicely earning this beer its name. The mouthfeel is medium-fuller bodied, with a firm carbonation up front, which accentuates all of that roast and hops, while it gets quite a bit more chewy and viscous towards the back where most of that heavy sweetness lies. A bit of alcohol does creep in here but for the most part, I'm only detecting it from the subtle flush of warmth that is slowly flooding my face.

Full flavored and satisfying, it's no wonder that this is a former GABF gold medal winner. I'm not really sure about this being labeled as a Russian Imperial Stout, as it came off much more like an aggressive American Double Stout but either way, this is yet another fantastic beer here from the Carlsbad Pizza Port. I'd love to see what some time in a barrel would do to this.
Dec 15, 2009
Photo of vacax
Reviewed by vacax from California

4.05/5  rDev +0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.5
It would appear that this must be a new batch versus most of the previous reviews. There is no way this should be classified as a Russian Imperial Stout, to me this is a hybrid between an American Double Stout and the Double IPA.

Pours black with one finger of dark tan head. High retention and good lace. Smells of chocolate, pears, apple sauce, and grapefruit. Tastes like prickly grapefruit, pine, flowers, chocolate, and in the finish some roasted and black malts. Medium bodied with a full prickly carbonation that works well with the hoppiness of the beer. The feel is more like a DIPA than a stout. The drinkability is surprisingly high, again similar to a DIPA might be than a stout. Yet it is still a stout, this is not to be confused with those newfangled "Black IPAs."

Good, creative brew.
Oct 15, 2009
Photo of magictrokini
Reviewed by magictrokini from California

4.2/5  rDev +4.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Dark brown with red highlights, nearly no head. Licorice, coffee, malt, and dark chocolate. Lots of dark chocolate in the taste, some vanilla and cream, more licorice and dry, roasted malt. Long, bitter, and chocolatey finish. Lives up to the name "sticky". Pretty good.
Dec 10, 2008
Photo of DoubleJ
Reviewed by DoubleJ from Wisconsin

3.56/5  rDev -11.7%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
This stout won a gold medal at the 2007 GABF in the American Stout style, and it was available on cask. Sounded like this would be a superb brew at the time, so on to the beer:

A soft milky head sits on top of this black bodied beer. The aroma is soft and subtle with chocolate. The taste was hoppier than I was expecting, and I thought it was too hoppy for the style. The roasted character of the stout was buried underneath a layer of hops, the former was really only felt in the aftertaste, which it lingers.

Sure, it's enjoyable, but tone down the hop intensity and I would have enjoyed it even more. With many better stouts tasted, how this beer won a gold at the GABF makes me think the competiton decided to take the year off.
Apr 05, 2008
Photo of Oxymoron
Reviewed by Oxymoron from Colorado

3.93/5  rDev -2.5%
look: 4 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 4
I don't think I want to know how it got sticky. Poured a deep black color with a light tan colored head. A nice frothy head that lasted through the entire tasting. Not much sticking though, could be more viscous.

The nose is rich was big roast and lots of astringency. The nose isn't per say malty but nice stout like characteristics. Some lighter caramel, toffee and coffee like aromas in the back end. A little bit of diactyl and some subtle solvent notes.

The taste is similar with nice roast and coffee flavors. The malt is limited with some touches of caramel but astringency is the name of the game. Some silky almost oat qualities. Seems a little soft Some esters and phenols, cherries figs and currants. Not much of an alcohol bite.

The body is closer to mid than full but limited for RIS. Really I am looking for more body overall and this is not it. Seems a bit high for carbonation that could influence this. Overall it was good but really looking for more complexity and body.
Feb 26, 2008
Photo of rallison
Reviewed by rallison from California

4.17/5  rDev +3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 4.5
I've had pints of this before along with this growler, so this review is a fair sampling of them all.

Pours a nice black color - albeit not nearly as syrupy looking as many imperial stouts - with a 2 finger creamy tan head.

Smell is of espresso and dark chocolate.

Taste is definitely full of espresso/coffee and chocolate. Just a touch of prune at the end, but otherwise a very coffee-ish beer (not a bad thing!).

Mouthfeel is quite dry for an RIS - it finishes almost like a regular stout. This is interesting - almost a hybrid between the dryness of a good stout and the richness of an RIS. Taste leans slightly more toward RIS while the finish leans more toward a regular stout. This quality makes this a good session RIS. I'm not entirely sold on this, but I'll give it credit for sure. I'll call it a well attenuated higher alcohol stout - as it really doesn't quite fit the RIS category.

Drinkability, as mentioned above, is very good.

Recommended. I don't think it deserved gold at the 07 GABF, but it is a good stout.
Nov 11, 2007
Sticky Stout from Pizza Port Bressi Ranch
Beer rating: 89 out of 100 with 24 ratings