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Hunahpu's Imperial Stout
Cigar City Brewing
- From:
- Cigar City Brewing
- Florida, United States
- Style:
- American Imperial Stout
Ranked #24 - ABV:
- 10.2%
- Score:
- 100
Ranked #79 - Avg:
- 4.57 | pDev: 8.32%
- Reviews:
- 866
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- Mar 13, 2024
- Added:
- Jan 03, 2009
- Wants:
- 3,728
- Gots:
- 1,264
In Mayan mythology, Hun Hunahpu was the father of the Mayan hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque. Hun Hunahpu, along with his brother Vucub Hunahpu, was tricked by the Dark Lords of the underworld and slain. Hun Hunahpu’s corpse morphed into a cacao tree, his head becoming a cacao pod, which in typically awesome mythology fashion, spit upon the hand of a young maiden named Xiquic who promptly became pregnant with the hero twins. The twins would ultimately grow up to avenge their father and uncle and defeat the Dark Lords and ascend the heavens to become the moon and sun. We brew Hunahpu's Imperial Stout once a year and release it only at the brewery on the second weekend in March. We will continue to do so until the end of the cycle.
Dark chocolate, mocha, cinnamon and molasses aromas all compete for attention on the nose, with a soft alcohol spiciness and dark fruit notes complimenting. Imposing and assertive on the palate, this imperial stout immediately presents espresso, baker’s chocolate and plum flavors that give way to cinnamon, toffee and an earthy hop quality. Scoville heat slowly builds with each sip, while a soft bitterness and moderate carbonation provide counterpoint to this viscous, complex creation.
80 IBU
Dark chocolate, mocha, cinnamon and molasses aromas all compete for attention on the nose, with a soft alcohol spiciness and dark fruit notes complimenting. Imposing and assertive on the palate, this imperial stout immediately presents espresso, baker’s chocolate and plum flavors that give way to cinnamon, toffee and an earthy hop quality. Scoville heat slowly builds with each sip, while a soft bitterness and moderate carbonation provide counterpoint to this viscous, complex creation.
80 IBU
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Rau71:
None found.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by moysauce from Illinois
4/5 rDev -12.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev -12.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Review from 2018 on untappd: What a time to be alive. Finally getting to try this and I have much better shelfies available. Don't get me wrong. Good beer. Not great.
Ha! What a review! Would love to revisit
Mar 06, 2024Ha! What a review! Would love to revisit
Rated by Curt2969 from Ohio
4.48/5 rDev -2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.48/5 rDev -2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
2019 (10th anniversary) vintage. Not the best stout I've had, by far, but certainly a fantastic brew. Highly recommend!
Nov 11, 2023Reviewed by DIM from Pennsylvania
4.41/5 rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.41/5 rDev -3.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
I haven't tried many of this type of beer to make a fair comparison, but I can see why this has received so much love. Hole-a mole-a sauce this is tasty. Up front the bitter baker's chocolate is accented nicely by earthy vanilla, mild pepper, and faint spice. The chilli kicks up significantly heading into the finish, pretty much right into my heat sweet spot. Just a great beer that I am so glad to try, thanks beergoot!
Oct 25, 2023Reviewed by papposilenus from New Hampshire
4.13/5 rDev -9.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
4.13/5 rDev -9.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
From a 500ml bottle, dated 03/11/23. Served in a spiegelau tulip glass.
Pours a thin-appearing oak-brown with no obvious highlights. A generous finger of lush, coffee colored foam doesn’t last but maybe 20 seconds leaving a narrow collar and a rousable spatter of oily, super-slippery lacing.
Nose is… fruity? A sweet, candy-like coffee aroma and, totally unexpectedly, raspberry - which must be an olfactory hallucination, or at least how my brain is interpreting the combination of vanilla, cinnamon and chiles.
Taste is sweet but not heavily so, with a berry-like coffee bean flavour and that fruity mélange of cinnamon-vanilla-chile pepper that my brain persists in translating as ‘raspberry’ bringing a brightness and lightness which keeps the beer from tasting syrupy. A slick Cadbury-like milk chocolatey character becomes more evident as the beer warms accompanied by some heat from the chiles. There’s a very faint soy sauce quality in the aftertaste which doesn’t detract much.
Feel is oily-smooth and creamy-slick, medium bodied but a little light relative to the style with gentle, prickly carbonation. Chile heat builds up on the palate somewhat and amplifies the otherwise mild carbonation, lightening the mouthfeel further.
Overall, pretty good but maybe a little bit of a mixed bag. I won’t call the flavours ‘muddled,’ but it is a very ‘busy’ flavour profile which, weirdly, for my palate, comes across very fruity and raspberry-like.
Jun 15, 2023Pours a thin-appearing oak-brown with no obvious highlights. A generous finger of lush, coffee colored foam doesn’t last but maybe 20 seconds leaving a narrow collar and a rousable spatter of oily, super-slippery lacing.
Nose is… fruity? A sweet, candy-like coffee aroma and, totally unexpectedly, raspberry - which must be an olfactory hallucination, or at least how my brain is interpreting the combination of vanilla, cinnamon and chiles.
Taste is sweet but not heavily so, with a berry-like coffee bean flavour and that fruity mélange of cinnamon-vanilla-chile pepper that my brain persists in translating as ‘raspberry’ bringing a brightness and lightness which keeps the beer from tasting syrupy. A slick Cadbury-like milk chocolatey character becomes more evident as the beer warms accompanied by some heat from the chiles. There’s a very faint soy sauce quality in the aftertaste which doesn’t detract much.
Feel is oily-smooth and creamy-slick, medium bodied but a little light relative to the style with gentle, prickly carbonation. Chile heat builds up on the palate somewhat and amplifies the otherwise mild carbonation, lightening the mouthfeel further.
Overall, pretty good but maybe a little bit of a mixed bag. I won’t call the flavours ‘muddled,’ but it is a very ‘busy’ flavour profile which, weirdly, for my palate, comes across very fruity and raspberry-like.
Reviewed by MadMadMike from France
3.88/5 rDev -15.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
3.88/5 rDev -15.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 4
2022 pint can, chilled, left to warm. Flat black on the pour, thick, sticky, tiny bit of struggled foam that vanished fast.
Smells like cinnamon, vanilla, cacao nibs, and chilli peppers being muddled together.
Tastes the same. Just too much going on. Cloyingly sweet and thick, slightly gritty, too much cinnamon, and who needs hot peppers in their stout?
Overall, I’ve attended 5 Hunahpu’s Day celebrations at the CCB Spruce Street brewery over the years and have bought a bottle or can each time and come away thinking the same thing: nice novelty.,. but way too busy and quite over rated.
Mar 23, 2023Smells like cinnamon, vanilla, cacao nibs, and chilli peppers being muddled together.
Tastes the same. Just too much going on. Cloyingly sweet and thick, slightly gritty, too much cinnamon, and who needs hot peppers in their stout?
Overall, I’ve attended 5 Hunahpu’s Day celebrations at the CCB Spruce Street brewery over the years and have bought a bottle or can each time and come away thinking the same thing: nice novelty.,. but way too busy and quite over rated.
Reviewed by Roy_Hobbs from Connecticut
4.33/5 rDev -5.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.33/5 rDev -5.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
2020 vintage received courtesy of @roguer.
Appearance is typical for the style, which means it's a nice looking dark, dark brown with a half inch of tan colored head. Nice legs. Aroma is wonderfully rich and decadent, but not in an artificial way. Plenty of sweet molasses, chocolate, a hint of vanilla, and some faint figs / raisins. That description doesn't do this any real justice, so in summary, this beer smells great.
Taste is interesting. Nowhere near as sweet on the nose, with some naturally bitter cacao notes, cinnamon and pepper combining brilliantly with the base beer. The spiciness is Goldilocks.....just right. A bit less and they wouldn't be notable. A bit more and they would overpower. There's a really nice sweetness deep into the finish that helps add to the complexity of this beer. Fully bodies and smooth, leaving a really nice coating on the tongue with a pleasant alcohol warming.
Overall this is excellent.
Mar 04, 2023Appearance is typical for the style, which means it's a nice looking dark, dark brown with a half inch of tan colored head. Nice legs. Aroma is wonderfully rich and decadent, but not in an artificial way. Plenty of sweet molasses, chocolate, a hint of vanilla, and some faint figs / raisins. That description doesn't do this any real justice, so in summary, this beer smells great.
Taste is interesting. Nowhere near as sweet on the nose, with some naturally bitter cacao notes, cinnamon and pepper combining brilliantly with the base beer. The spiciness is Goldilocks.....just right. A bit less and they wouldn't be notable. A bit more and they would overpower. There's a really nice sweetness deep into the finish that helps add to the complexity of this beer. Fully bodies and smooth, leaving a really nice coating on the tongue with a pleasant alcohol warming.
Overall this is excellent.
Reviewed by Rug from Massachusetts
4.31/5 rDev -5.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.31/5 rDev -5.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
2018 vintage
We’re nearing the end of the BIF beers I got from @Eziel back in February, and this one is a heavy hitter. This has been a big want for me for a while, so it’s awesome to finally be able to try it. Let’s see what this famoud spicy Stout is really all about
Pours nearly pitch black with 2 fingers of reddish brown head that fades to a ring and leaves minimal lacing
This is highly complex in the nose, not too peppery and balanced in its sweetness. I’m picking up on aromas of cacao nibs, vanilla bean, chili pepper, spicy whiskey, burnt coffee, sweet toffee, brown sugar, and light charred oak
This is a bit restrained in taste, perhaps due to the age but I still really enjoy it. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting dark chocolate, roasty coffee, chipotle pepper, vanilla bean, spicy whiskey, toasted oak, cinnamon, and toffee. The swallow brings notes of milk chocolate, chipotle pepper, vanilla bean, caramel, toasted oak, earthy whiskey, and burnt coffee
A full body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a smooth and earthy beer. Finishes mostly dry with a lingering heat
While I enjoyed this, I’d hardly put it on legendary status. Again, maybe it’s the age so I’d love to try it fresh, but even still
Sep 03, 2022We’re nearing the end of the BIF beers I got from @Eziel back in February, and this one is a heavy hitter. This has been a big want for me for a while, so it’s awesome to finally be able to try it. Let’s see what this famoud spicy Stout is really all about
Pours nearly pitch black with 2 fingers of reddish brown head that fades to a ring and leaves minimal lacing
This is highly complex in the nose, not too peppery and balanced in its sweetness. I’m picking up on aromas of cacao nibs, vanilla bean, chili pepper, spicy whiskey, burnt coffee, sweet toffee, brown sugar, and light charred oak
This is a bit restrained in taste, perhaps due to the age but I still really enjoy it. On the front end of the sip I’m tasting dark chocolate, roasty coffee, chipotle pepper, vanilla bean, spicy whiskey, toasted oak, cinnamon, and toffee. The swallow brings notes of milk chocolate, chipotle pepper, vanilla bean, caramel, toasted oak, earthy whiskey, and burnt coffee
A full body pairs with gentle carbonation, resulting in a smooth and earthy beer. Finishes mostly dry with a lingering heat
While I enjoyed this, I’d hardly put it on legendary status. Again, maybe it’s the age so I’d love to try it fresh, but even still
Hunahpu's Imperial Stout from Cigar City Brewing
Beer rating:
100 out of
100 with
4461 ratings
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