Imperial Stout
Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)

Imperial StoutImperial Stout
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From:
Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)
 
England, United Kingdom
Style:
Russian Imperial Stout
Ranked #224
ABV:
7%
Score:
93
Ranked #3,951
Avg:
4.16 | pDev: 11.3%
Reviews:
1,870
Ratings:
4,048
Status:
Active
Rated:
Feb 17, 2024
Added:
Feb 27, 2001
Wants:
  256
Gots:
  596
Brewed at Samuel Smith's small, traditional British brewery with well water, best barley malt, roasted barley, yeast and hops to create a rich flavorful ale; deep chocolate on color with a roasted barley nose and flavor that is a complexity of malt, hops, and yeast. Fermented in 'stone Yorkshire squares'. This distinctive type of ale was originally shipped to Imperial Russia; it was a favourite of Russian nobility.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Hops4Pops:
Photo of Hops4Pops
Reviewed by Hops4Pops from Texas

4.96/5  rDev +19.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 5
Bottle says 1 pint, 2.7 FL Oz 550 ML
A: Side pour into a pint glass. Lots of thick rich head, 3 fingers thick. Tannish off-white head with a very interesting texture. Thick foam with bubbles in size up to about 1/16th of an inch. Head retention is excellent. Most of the lacing is oily but a bit of sticky lacing on the sides is forming as head slowly recedes. The lacing that is left is very sticky. Reflective light reveals about as dark a brown as you can get, almost black. Light shining through the beer reveals only the slightest amount of light passing through the beer and it is a dark red color.
S: Lots of burnt malt and sugars. Dark fruit(s) raisin, plum. Coffee. Chocolate. Bittering hops. Alcohol. Oak like burned wood taste very faintly in the background. Very rich. Expectations are high.
T: The smell does not reveal the way this ale tastes. The ordering of the flavors is different than the ordering of the smell. Coolio! Burnt malt, sweetness, chocolate, hops, dark fruit, raisin, plum. Finishes with a very nice bittering hops profile and the taste of the way a burned out campfire of oak wood smells. A very dry finish and very bitter with an interesting burned wood sort of taste. Its like the smoky taste of a very nice scotch without all the afterburn from alcohol to cover it up. Wow.
M: Very medium bodied and and creamy. Finish feels rather thin and very dry. A little bit of warming from the alcohol.
O:Incredibly complex and very well blended in an unusual way. I want another quaff to see what else I can find in it. Smiles. Very robust. Complex. Well rounded. Balanced. Very Unique. Unusually well constructed to be able to put all of this into one beer. I would recommend this to anyone as an incredible execution of style. Not for the faint of tongue. Definitely an acquired taste and not a way to introduce ANYONE to craft beer!!!
Jan 02, 2014
More User Ratings:
 
Rated: 4.6 by MobBarley from Oregon

Feb 17, 2024
 
Rated: 4.24 by drews240 from Rhode Island

Feb 01, 2024
Photo of twage04
Reviewed by twage04 from North Carolina

4.53/5  rDev +8.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.5
Pours a dark black with normal carbonation. Chocolate, molasses, bourbon on the nose. Taste is the same with some caramel, fig. Very rich and flavorful for the ABV.
Jan 29, 2024
Photo of DoctorRobert1969
Reviewed by DoctorRobert1969 from California

4.25/5  rDev +2.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
This was surprisingly smooth for an imperial beer, although I haven’t had many. The taste is something like a quad. Samuel Smith can do no wrong. Perfect for a cold night.
Jan 22, 2024
 
Rated: 3.69 by JimKochFan from New Jersey

Jan 22, 2024
 
Rated: 3.78 by harsley from Massachusetts

Jan 16, 2024
 
Rated: 4.68 by k9cousin from New York

Jan 15, 2024
Photo of MNJR
Reviewed by MNJR from Illinois

5/5  rDev +20.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Rich and satisfying with the unmistakable Tadcaster magic that cannot be duplicated, ever. In the history of beer, with the physical, spiritual, and human limitations of the art form of making beer, nothing can ever be better than this, So... this is it, The Best. Try to outdo it, try and fail, maybe someday a stout beer can be better, maybe, but maybe not. Delicious flavors of earth, raisin, cocoa, fruit, vanilla, brown sugar, forest, mountains, and sea. Best stuff, best you can get. Lovely and remarkable in every way a beer can possibly be. 100%. Something has to be, and this is it.
Jan 15, 2024
 
Rated: 3 by prisdefer from New York

Jan 10, 2024
 
Rated: 4.07 by Can_if_you_can from Minnesota

Dec 27, 2023
Photo of Tom-o-Bedlam
Reviewed by Tom-o-Bedlam from Texas

4.42/5  rDev +6.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Burnt coffee, bitter dark chocolate, toasted bready malt, and hops on the back end.

Has the same undefinable funkiness that all Samuel Smith beers have (I’m drinking this one after having their Oatmeal Stout, Tadcaster, and Organic Chocolate Stout earlier this week). I guess it’s the well water.

There’s something hard and mineral-y that undergirds the flavor and the feel.

Good stuff.
Dec 21, 2023
 
Rated: 3 by AbeO

Dec 18, 2023
 
Rated: 4.23 by arini10 from Oregon

Dec 08, 2023
 
Rated: 4 by Birdlegs from Washington

Dec 06, 2023
 
Rated: 4.69 by KeithGreatNorth from Canada (BC)

Dec 04, 2023
 
Rated: 4.77 by MEnoMoney

Nov 22, 2023
 
Rated: 4.25 by FLBeerGuy from Florida

Nov 18, 2023
 
Rated: 4.15 by cabsandking from Ohio

Nov 10, 2023
 
Rated: 4.25 by thewimperoo from Illinois

Nov 08, 2023
Imperial Stout from Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)
Beer rating: 93 out of 100 with 4048 ratings