Imperial Java Stout
Santa Fe Brewing Company
- From:
- Santa Fe Brewing Company
- New Mexico, United States
- Style:
- American Imperial Stout
Ranked #1,501 - ABV:
- 8%
- Score:
- 90
Ranked #11,385 - Avg:
- 4.04 | pDev: 10.4%
- Ratings:
- | reviews: 260
- Status:
- Active
- Rated:
- May 29, 2026
- Added:
- Mar 31, 2007
- Wants:
- 96
- Gots:
- 205
SCORE
90
Outstanding
90
Outstanding
This is the kind of beer that gives the word "stout" a reputation. Extra generous quantities of barley malt, followed by vigorous fermentation leaves this "imperial" heavy weight with 8% alcohol A.B.V. and a body as full as chocolate bread pudding. A complimentary and complex array of bitter notes comes form potent American hops, earthy British hops, black-roasted malts and, of course, coffee. Santa Fe Brewing Company uses only top-quality ingredients like organically grown East Timor coffee beans blended with New Guinea coffee beans, locally roasted by O'hori's Coffee House. Its heavenly flavor and aroma can't be beat or imitated.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Whyteboar:
Reviewed by Whyteboar from Michigan
4.17/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.17/5 rDev +3.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
Poured stout black with an impressive brown head that dissipated slowly and left rings of lacing.
The taste was coffee forward yet not dominated by it. Chocolate checks in for a quick hello and mouth filling roasted malts rounds out the flavors.
The feel is a little more viscous than expected, made for a very easy drinking sipper.
OA, really good, I was pleasantly surprised. Would gladly have this on a regular basis.
May 28, 2024The taste was coffee forward yet not dominated by it. Chocolate checks in for a quick hello and mouth filling roasted malts rounds out the flavors.
The feel is a little more viscous than expected, made for a very easy drinking sipper.
OA, really good, I was pleasantly surprised. Would gladly have this on a regular basis.
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by Bluerabbitbell from Pennsylvania
3.88/5 rDev -4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
3.88/5 rDev -4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 3.75
From can purchased in Flagstaff, AZ.
Glad to have finally found a beer from New Mexico! Only three states to go!
Aroma....stoney, roasty, almost a coca cola smell.... Explains the sweetness.
Taste is an odd cola taste. I don't prefer my coffee to have any sweetness so I'm not a big fan of this stout. Nevertheless this is a decent offering for what the brewer was going for.
May 29, 2026Glad to have finally found a beer from New Mexico! Only three states to go!
Aroma....stoney, roasty, almost a coca cola smell.... Explains the sweetness.
Taste is an odd cola taste. I don't prefer my coffee to have any sweetness so I'm not a big fan of this stout. Nevertheless this is a decent offering for what the brewer was going for.
Rated by ttoadee from Texas
3.93/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
3.93/5 rDev -2.7%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
RB transfer
Aug 08, 2025
Reviewed by dcscientist from Colorado
4.34/5 rDev +7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.34/5 rDev +7.4%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
This is an excellent stout. It's actually sort of in between regular and imperial at 8% ABV, but it's got a ton of flavor. The coffee is the dominant taste, as you'd expect, but you can taste the base beer underneath it as well. I'd love to try that on its own just to see how different the two ended up being after the addition of the coffee beans. I would bet this is their best selling beer, unless they have something else that's even better that I don't know about yet.
Mar 05, 2025
Reviewed by anotherpint from Arizona
3.4/5 rDev -15.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
3.4/5 rDev -15.8%
look: 4.5 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3 | feel: 3.25 | overall: 3.5
I've had this before, but forgot about its intense flavor and alcohol power. Good full tan head. Some coffee in the foretaste filled out by roasted malts. Not an easy drinker or sessionable at all. Classic Guinness is far more drinkable and sessionable. I'll have to try this again, but right now I prefer the lighter style of stout by Guinness or Murphy's Irish Stout. I detect the alcohol in every sip which tempers my enjoyment. I was going to get a dark German lager when I bought this and I guess I'm missing that.
Jun 19, 2024
Reviewed by stevoj from Idaho
4/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
4/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12 oz can from Total wine. whiel not normally a coffee beer guy, this one piqued my interest as it was a Top 50 beer for New Mexico. Dark brown with a beige head, clumpy lacing. Aroma features a nice blend of roast malts and coffee. Taste has the coffee a bit more prominent, but still the coffee bitterness blends nicely with the roast for a well balanced brew.
Apr 17, 2024
Reviewed by BigGold from Mississippi
3.78/5 rDev -6.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
3.78/5 rDev -6.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Had this Imperial Java Stout poured from 12-oz. can, bottom stamped "BEST BEFORE 04/20/22," into shaker.
Pours apparently black but very deep brown when backlit, with 1-finger, fizzing, light-tan head, with decent retention, leaving nice Belgian lace down the glass. Big bitter coffee aroma off pour, with some grassy hops and dark fruit as warms. Begins sweet malt and carbonation, hammered almost immediately by bitter coffee, later joined by mild malt for a bit of pleasant toffee flavor, and a dry, mildly bitter finish.
Uncomplicated big mostly bitter coffee stout that hides the ABV nicely.
Feb 01, 2022Pours apparently black but very deep brown when backlit, with 1-finger, fizzing, light-tan head, with decent retention, leaving nice Belgian lace down the glass. Big bitter coffee aroma off pour, with some grassy hops and dark fruit as warms. Begins sweet malt and carbonation, hammered almost immediately by bitter coffee, later joined by mild malt for a bit of pleasant toffee flavor, and a dry, mildly bitter finish.
Uncomplicated big mostly bitter coffee stout that hides the ABV nicely.
Rated by STOOOO from Wisconsin
4.94/5 rDev +22.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
4.94/5 rDev +22.3%
look: 5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Yum!! Lots of coffee and great mouth feel. Love it!
Oct 25, 2021Reviewed by GoseGuy from New Mexico
5/5 rDev +23.8%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
5/5 rDev +23.8%
look: 5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
I hate it when I get a "coffee stout" and I have to go hunting for the "coffee". This is immediately recognizable as capital C Coffee. Incredible presence of flavor. Just enough sweetness to be pleasant.
The beer pours black with small tan head. The coffee permeates the aroma and the thick mouthfeel is everything you want in a stout.
May 22, 2021The beer pours black with small tan head. The coffee permeates the aroma and the thick mouthfeel is everything you want in a stout.
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