Fuel
Capitol City Brewing Company

Near black color but light passes through easily along the edge. Modest beige head which leaves a few spots on the glass.

Burnt malt nose in form of coffee and ash.

Rich bodied and decently carbonated, this is a very big beer. Despite the 13.1% abv, this beer doesn't have any hint of alcohol warmth (although it is very warming on the tongue). This is like black coffee with light ash and black cherry.

Poured at the brewery in DC. L: nice pour S: strong coffee and chocolate malt character T: not as balanced as I was hoping. F: Easy to drink for high abv. O: solid beer but nothing spectacular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On draft at Capitol City Brewing Co. in Virginia.

The beer is dark brown, approaching black, with a finger's width of beige head. The aroma brings coffee, chocolate, and roast, respectively. Nicely done. Coffee leads the way, though chocolate and roast notes are omnipresent. Medium bodied with appropriate carbonation. Alcohol is masked quite well by the bold coffee flavors. A solid beer. I would have this again.

 

On tap today at the Arlington location. Served in a 10 ounce chalice.

The beer pours the expected blackish brown color with good head retention and decent lacing. The nose is also attractive, showcasing coffee, milk chocolate and milk duds. The flavor profile replicates the nose in this moderately sweet beer, with a hint of hoppy bitterness to counter that sweetness in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied to full, with a faily long finish. Alcohol is fairly well integrated into the flavor profile, though you can tell the abv. is up there a bit (still, this beer is all too easy to drink for the abv.).

A solid beer from CC, though certainly nothing extraordinairy either.

Poured into a large goblet just like everyone else described. I couldn't fully hear the bartender but he said it was brewed with some style of Starbucks coffee.
A- Poured black as death with tin brown head that dissipated after a few sips.
S- Most smelled of coffee and a little bit of chocolate
T- Very much coffee and some chocolate again. Almost like a mocha. The bartender told me it was a 10% abv which was masked very well. No taste of booze whatsoever.
M- It is rather light but I thought it was still very good in that it enveloped my entire mouth with the taste and flavor. Very easy to drink.
O- I really enjoyed this beer. I really like the coffee taste. May not keep entirely in line with a Russian Imperial style, I was still very good and I would go back and get it again and again.

Fuel - a great name for this one, as you could probably run a jet on it.

Very dark brown, not much head to speak of. Slight coffee aroma. Tons of coffee flavor, which helps to hide the fact that it's at 8.5% ABV. Pretty heavy mouthfeel, but not quite like a Guinness. Then again, what is?

It was a bit of a battle to throw this one down - probably best to start with this then move on to some lighter options. Unless you have a jet to run.

A: Completely black pour with a nice small off white to light brown head. Retention and lacing are solid.

S: The smell is very nice. Coffee and other roasted malts. The boldness of the coffee is quite impressive.

T: While it's pretty much a one trick pony with the coffee, I still enjoy it. Sort of missing some chocolate or any hops to compliment the dry roasty flavors already present. It's a bit watered down, but you can't taste a single hint if the alcohol.

MF: It's a bit light. Carbonation seems a tad low. I was expecting more of a body from what was advertised as their biggest beer.

O: For all its faults this is a very enjoyable beer. I'd certainly get iut again. $6 for a 10oz goblet I believe.

A-Pours very dark brown with a very thin, tan head that disappears very quickly.
S- The smell, given the nature, of this particular beer, is understandably dominated by coffee. I like a good bit of coffee aroma in a stout, but that's all there is here. It smells 100% of coffee. ok. 95%. There is a bit of smokeyness in there too.
T- Again, coffee, beginning middle and end. There is a smokey characteristic to it as well. It's not bad, but it just doesn't go anywhere.
M- The body is excessively light given the style. The carbonation is low, which is fine, but when in tandem with the light body, it comes across as far too watery for an imperial stout.
O- A bit of a disappointment. One-dimensional and too thin on the body, for my personal preferences of the style. They made a coffee stout but made it too much about the coffee, forgetting the stout.

Had this on tap at the brewery while I was in D.C. Drank about 3 of these. Poured into an awesome chalice:

A - Pours drank chocolate black with a rich mocha kahki head about two fingers thick. Heavy lacing retention.

S - Chocolate, vanilla and roast. Bit of oak and earth and sweet hops.

T - Rich creamy chocolate and a touch of roast. Bit of coffee and cream. Earty hops, vanilla and oak. Since there is 10lbs of locally ground coffee in the batch I didn't get a lot of coffee, but its ok.

M - Really smooth and creamy. No heat or over to top roasts. Light carbonation but really smooth.

D - I really liked this. Although people are questioning how this is a RIS, I'm rating on what I got out of it based on the senses and not the style. I wanted a growler of this, it was really tasty.

I had this at Cap. City while out on a date night with my wife. This was the one and only beer she ordered.... so naturally, she didn't need to do much coaxing to get me to order one as well.

A: Black as the sky on a cloudy night, with about a 1/2 inch or so cappuccino colored head that lingered as a ring around the brew throughout the entire session.

S: VERY strong coffee, with a tinge of chocolate and molasses... you know.... the usual band of Imperial Stout characters.

T: No fruitiness whatsoever, which I found a bit disappointing, however, the coffee was there in spades. The redeeming part: the coffee was actually a GOOD coffee!

M: I was impressed by how creamy and thick this was... it actually transcended into chocolate milk territory in terms of mouthfeel. There was also a very tempered, disciplined sweetness and a ridiculous amount of lacing.

D: Sure this is a one-dimensional brew, but the coffee lovers sure do love it!