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Imperial Stout
Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)
- 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:
- 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 Thorpe429:
Reviewed by Thorpe429 from Illinois
4/5 rDev -3.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4/5 rDev -3.8%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
G: Imperial pint glass.
A: Pours a "not very dark for this style" cola color out of the bottle, but appears a bit darker in the glass to the point where it is nearly opaque. My pour might have been a little hard, but I got a good two-and-a-half or three fingers worth of head. The head is also a creamy color; again, reminiscent of the foam associated with colas. The head recedes fairly quickly with the slightest bit of lacing.
S: Slightly sweet on a malt base. Hints of toffee and perhaps a little bit of caramel. Faint smell of dark fruits.
T: Sweet in the mouth. Much more sweet on the palate than I would have expected from the nose. Slightly sour with little heat from the alcohol. Biscuity malt with a little bit of chocolate--another thing I didn't detect with the first whiff. Slight fruity undertones in the background--maybe dark cherries, which could contribute the bit of sourness I've detected.
M: Not overly carbonated, and slightly sweet on the tip of the tongue. As it sits, it becomes more and more creamy. The mouthfeel is somewhere between a typical milk stout and the other RIS's that I have come across.
D: Given the low ABV for the style, this is quite a bit more drinkable than is typical. The is one of the first imperial stouts I've had where I could imagine having a couple throughout an evening.
Mar 03, 2009A: Pours a "not very dark for this style" cola color out of the bottle, but appears a bit darker in the glass to the point where it is nearly opaque. My pour might have been a little hard, but I got a good two-and-a-half or three fingers worth of head. The head is also a creamy color; again, reminiscent of the foam associated with colas. The head recedes fairly quickly with the slightest bit of lacing.
S: Slightly sweet on a malt base. Hints of toffee and perhaps a little bit of caramel. Faint smell of dark fruits.
T: Sweet in the mouth. Much more sweet on the palate than I would have expected from the nose. Slightly sour with little heat from the alcohol. Biscuity malt with a little bit of chocolate--another thing I didn't detect with the first whiff. Slight fruity undertones in the background--maybe dark cherries, which could contribute the bit of sourness I've detected.
M: Not overly carbonated, and slightly sweet on the tip of the tongue. As it sits, it becomes more and more creamy. The mouthfeel is somewhere between a typical milk stout and the other RIS's that I have come across.
D: Given the low ABV for the style, this is quite a bit more drinkable than is typical. The is one of the first imperial stouts I've had where I could imagine having a couple throughout an evening.
More User Ratings:
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
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, 2024Reviewed 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
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, 2024Reviewed by MNJR from Illinois
5/5 rDev +20.2%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
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, 2024Reviewed 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
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, 2023Has 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.
Imperial Stout from Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster)
Beer rating:
93 out of
100 with
4048 ratings
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