Imperial Beam Me Up, Stouty Coconut Stout - Rum Barrel-Aged
Saugatuck Brewing Company

4-27-19

Thank you Blackop555 for this
12 oz bottle, dated 2/27/18, poured into a teku

A- Black with a massive and rocky mocha head. Between the hiss of opening the bottle and how the head formed I’m thinking it might be infected.

S- Sour/infected, cherries, chocolate, roasted malts, no rum or coconut.

T- Cherries, chocolate, charred oak, roasted malts, some coconut on the back end.

M- Fairly smooth, medium body, high carbonation.

O- Would love to revisit a non-infected bottle. I love the idea of this beer and the hints of coconut I do get, but it being infected is hurting the beer. I think I will be able to finish the bottle.

12 ounce bottle into a snifter. Bottled 2/27/18, had 8/16/18.

Pours near black, opaque, with a one and a half inch foamy head with good retention and a good amount of foamy lacing. Uh- oh. A fairly sour smell to this. Other aromas of roasted malt, chocolate, toffee, coconut. It tastes kind of sour, too. Other tastes of malt, chocolate, some caramel, light rum. There’s just nothing good going on, here. Smooth, a decent full body, has a little fizzy feel that increases as it warms- that last part is crazy.

As others noted, this seems infected. I usually just let those beers air out for a while, and most improve. Not this one. So really not much to sum up, except that I can’t believe the bad bugs sucked up all the rum barrels. Seems like people with the good bottles had rum barrels....

 

L - liquid gushes out of the bottle, eventually leaving a massive hazelnut head atop a pitch black body.

S - cherries, milk chocolate, vanilla, booze.

T - follows the nose. Not sure if it’s supposed to taste like cherries, but I don’t mind it. Low bitterness. Moderate-low sweetness. Low booziness.

F - medium body with high carb.

O - hard to fathom what they were going for here, but I’m enjoying it nonetheless.

Appearance - Pours black with a two finger mocha colored head that quickly settles to a thick ring. No lacing.

Aroma - Coconut, cocoa, lots of rum, barrel and a hint of vanilla.

Taste - coconut, chocolate, sour cherry, and rum.

Feel - Carbonation is probably a little high, alcohol is well hidden

Overall - Not a fan of the sour cherry, carb is a little high.

The coconut and rum combine with the underlying malt, molasses, and vanilla to make a candle worthy fragrance on the smell. Airy and aromatic. The taste is warm with booze and wood, yet has enough sweet elements to finish drier and balanced. The feel is a little thin, but has nice textures and warmth

 

Well, it's infected. Tart metallic fruit notwithstanding, it's still better than some cheap macro lagers, but it's just as much of a drainpour. I had been looking forward to this, but unfortunately it's a no go.

12 oz bottle poured into Deschutes flute.

Deep pitch black with a tall brown head of 3 fingers. Sparse lacing as the head recedes.

Aromas are slightly metallic, with some coconut flakes, dry cocoa, roast malts, and rum barrel.

Flavor is slightly chocolatey, with notes of tin, cherry, coconut, and rum barrel. Finish fades on woody rum barrel.

Feel is creamy and smooth with a good carbonation to keep it going.

Overall, not as great as I'd hoped, the $28 per 4 pack is very steep for the quality of beer you get.

 

 

This marks the last entry of today's Saugatuck portion of New Against the Saugatuck Grain Beer Sunday (Week 699). I previously finished The CANQuest (tm) phase & now I am also out of bottles!

From the Bottle: "Made in Michigan"; "Ale Brewed with Natural Coconut"; "Coconut Stout".

I Pop!ped the cap & went directly to a hard, aggro pour which generated two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, dark-brown head with moderate retention. Thanks to both my efforts & the beer's carbonation, it looked like a pseudo-cascade as it settled. Color was Black/Opaque (SRM = 44), allowing ZERO light penetration. Nose had a strong rum & wood smell. Mmm. Mouthfeel was medium-to-full, not quite creamy. The taste, while rum, chocolate & coconut, also had the sour cherry flavor mentioned by others. Gack! It leads me to wonder why they did not do a recall on this. It is clearly infected & reflects poorly on them. For shame, Saugatuck B.C.!

 

A - Pours pitch black with a one finger tan head. Nice amount of soapy lacing.

S - Aroma is heavy toasted coconut and dark chocolate.

T - The taste is toasted coconut, milk chocolate, marshmalllow, light oak and some light rum in the finish.

M - Medium bodied with medium carbonation. Soft mouthfeel with a dry finish.

O - Pretty decent rum barrel aged stout. Tons of toasted coconut and dark chocolate in the flavor. Luckily my bottle wasn't infected but it feels like it was on its last legs.

 

A - Pitch black pour with a thick toffee colored, airy and creamy foam layer.

S - Rum, cherry, oak, chocolate, also has some delicate acidic tang in the nose. The nose is slightly acrid and sour.

T - Oak, some chocolate, sour cherry, green apple, acrid, very little Rum.

M - Very airy and fluffy on the tongue with a puckering tang that lingers in the back of the palate.

O - If I didn't know any better, this bottle is infected and it was an expensive and hard to get 4-pk in our part of the world. The beer ended in a drain pour. I contacted the brewery, something is very off and the overall score of 3.28 is being generous. 'Will definitely give this beer the benefit of a doubt, re-visit, and adjust the score accordingly.