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Marshal Zhukov's Imperial Stout- Bourbon Barrel Aged Penultimate Push
Cigar City Brewing
- From:
- Cigar City Brewing
- Florida, United States
- Style:
- Russian Imperial Stout
- ABV:
- 13%
- Score:
- 96
- Avg:
- 4.4 | pDev: 7.95%
- Reviews:
- 17
- Ratings:
- Status:
- Retired
- Rated:
- Jan 22, 2023
- Added:
- Apr 13, 2017
- Wants:
- 8
- Gots:
- 8
No description / notes.
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by Cynic-ale:
Rated by Cynic-ale from Texas
4.5/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Nov 12, 2017
4.5/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Nov 12, 2017
More User Ratings:
Reviewed by MadMadMike from France
4.43/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.43/5 rDev +0.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Sampled at Cigar City Brewing’s El Catador Club XV bottle share party on 1/18/23.
2017 vintage, 750 ml.
Poured pretty flat from the bottle into a CCB taster’s glass.
Aroma is bourbon coffee with a sweet fume of oak planks rising.
Taste plods from 5 years in the cellar, yet delivers a truckload of flavors; chocolate and coffee mated in a bourbon barrel and out popped this gem. Rich and viscous, malty and sensory. Some mosh pits move slowly. This one surely does.
Mouth is heavy, sweet, low carbo.
Overall, really happy to get a pull of this fully realized, now-mature classic.
Jan 22, 20232017 vintage, 750 ml.
Poured pretty flat from the bottle into a CCB taster’s glass.
Aroma is bourbon coffee with a sweet fume of oak planks rising.
Taste plods from 5 years in the cellar, yet delivers a truckload of flavors; chocolate and coffee mated in a bourbon barrel and out popped this gem. Rich and viscous, malty and sensory. Some mosh pits move slowly. This one surely does.
Mouth is heavy, sweet, low carbo.
Overall, really happy to get a pull of this fully realized, now-mature classic.
Reviewed by Treyliff from West Virginia
4.5/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +2.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Bottled 4/10/17
750ml bottle poured into a tulip
A- pours jet black in color with a one-finger dark brown head that reduces to a ring around the glass
S- heavy herbal coffee and charred malt on the nose up front, along with aromas of anise, dark chocolate, vanilla bean, caramel, brownie batter, pipe tobacco, wet oak and bourbon
T- rich oaky bourbon up front is complimented by a umami-like note, followed by dark chocolate, charred malt and black licorice. Mid-palate brings out notes of herbal espresso and vanilla bean, with more barrel juice popping through. The finish gives dark chocolate, soy sauce, oak and coffee. Lingers of bourbon
M- medium-heavy body with moderate carbonation leads to a creamy mouthfeel that continues into a creamy, warming finish
O- rich and malty with bold barrel notes and coffee, outstanding
Feb 06, 2021750ml bottle poured into a tulip
A- pours jet black in color with a one-finger dark brown head that reduces to a ring around the glass
S- heavy herbal coffee and charred malt on the nose up front, along with aromas of anise, dark chocolate, vanilla bean, caramel, brownie batter, pipe tobacco, wet oak and bourbon
T- rich oaky bourbon up front is complimented by a umami-like note, followed by dark chocolate, charred malt and black licorice. Mid-palate brings out notes of herbal espresso and vanilla bean, with more barrel juice popping through. The finish gives dark chocolate, soy sauce, oak and coffee. Lingers of bourbon
M- medium-heavy body with moderate carbonation leads to a creamy mouthfeel that continues into a creamy, warming finish
O- rich and malty with bold barrel notes and coffee, outstanding
Reviewed by macrosmatic from Florida
4.49/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.49/5 rDev +2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Reviewed from (long-standing) notes. Bottle from the 2017 release - possibly the only release so far, I think. 750 mL bottle, consumed on 1/9/18. Poured into an El Catador teku glass.
A: Very dark brown, essentially black. Opaque with minimal visible carbonation. This looks thick and menacing during the pour. Forms a half-finger of dark tan head with good retention.
S: Coffee and bourbon mixed perfectly. Then dark chocolate, dark roasted malts, vanilla. Some drying tobacco and caramel. A touch of old books and more oak. Nice. Really, really nice smell. 4.5 anyhow.
T: Coffee and bourbon again up front. Big thick heavy dark roasted malts and dark sticky chocolate, vanilla and caramel. Tobacco and oaky dryness from the sizable amount of oaky tannins. All of the more bitter flavors are ultimately snowed under the sweet flavors and residual sugars, but this is never cloying. More coffee and some lingering bourbon in the hang.
M: A nice thick sticky mouthfeel and body. Low carbonation sensation, but as expected and fits the beer. Alcohol flavors are integrated well, though this is warming going down.
O: This is really good. Excellent balance of bourbon and barrel and coffee and vanilla. No green pepper to the coffee, which is an achievement frequently whiffed on by coffee stouts. They actually managed to carve out a bit of room to achieve some other flavors like the tobacco and caramel that add a small layer of complexity to this. But for sure, this is an excellent, excellent beer. And another example of why the El Catador membership continues to be worth it for me.
Apr 05, 2020A: Very dark brown, essentially black. Opaque with minimal visible carbonation. This looks thick and menacing during the pour. Forms a half-finger of dark tan head with good retention.
S: Coffee and bourbon mixed perfectly. Then dark chocolate, dark roasted malts, vanilla. Some drying tobacco and caramel. A touch of old books and more oak. Nice. Really, really nice smell. 4.5 anyhow.
T: Coffee and bourbon again up front. Big thick heavy dark roasted malts and dark sticky chocolate, vanilla and caramel. Tobacco and oaky dryness from the sizable amount of oaky tannins. All of the more bitter flavors are ultimately snowed under the sweet flavors and residual sugars, but this is never cloying. More coffee and some lingering bourbon in the hang.
M: A nice thick sticky mouthfeel and body. Low carbonation sensation, but as expected and fits the beer. Alcohol flavors are integrated well, though this is warming going down.
O: This is really good. Excellent balance of bourbon and barrel and coffee and vanilla. No green pepper to the coffee, which is an achievement frequently whiffed on by coffee stouts. They actually managed to carve out a bit of room to achieve some other flavors like the tobacco and caramel that add a small layer of complexity to this. But for sure, this is an excellent, excellent beer. And another example of why the El Catador membership continues to be worth it for me.
Reviewed by Jeffo from Netherlands
4.91/5 rDev +11.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
4.91/5 rDev +11.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 5 | taste: 5 | feel: 5 | overall: 5
Got this one from desp a while back. Cheers, man!
From a 750 into a snifter
Bourbon barrel aged imperial stout with coffee and vanilla
APPEARANCE: Thick, dark black pour yields a 3+ finger, medium looking, slightly foamy and fizzy, dark mocha colored head with half good retention. Head fizzes down to a full cap. Pitch black body with no carbonation evident. Touches of wisp and ring remain leaving traces of lacing down the glass. Color of both the body and head is out of this world but the head is a little fizzier than I’d like for top marks.
SMELL: Roasted coffee beans, bourbon barrel, sweet cream, milk and pure dark chocolate and some definite vanilla beans on the nose. Some alcohol is here too. Massive and plenty boozy. Bold stuff and the coffee is really nice.
TASTE: Roasted coffee beans, sweet milk chocolate and vanilla alongside a strong oak-bourbon barrel up front. Some decent alcohol at the swallow as well. Flavorful. Bold and lingering finish of bourbon, oak, sweet cream and vanilla beans. Milk chocolate sweetness combine with pure chocolate and roasted coffee beans, adding a strong bitterness to match the vanilla and butterscotch laced oak-bourbon barrel. Some alcohol lingers as well.
PALATE: Full body and slightly lower levels of carbonation. Heavy and silky slick, goes down creamy smooth and finishes quite sticky. Some heat lingers. Thick, heavy, silky and decadent.
OVERALL: The question: Why? The answer; YES! This is immortal. How anyone could rate this anything other than insanely awesome is beyond all common sense. Like the straight bourbon barrel release of this one, it's all-happiness all-the-time. These guys make the best base stout in the world, that being The Good Marshal himself, and whatever treatment they give him, whether it be turning him into the Mayan Hero Twins or morphing him into an even more heavily armed version of himself, it always works out like gold. This is no exception. Thanks again, desp! Lovely.
Jan 21, 2018From a 750 into a snifter
Bourbon barrel aged imperial stout with coffee and vanilla
APPEARANCE: Thick, dark black pour yields a 3+ finger, medium looking, slightly foamy and fizzy, dark mocha colored head with half good retention. Head fizzes down to a full cap. Pitch black body with no carbonation evident. Touches of wisp and ring remain leaving traces of lacing down the glass. Color of both the body and head is out of this world but the head is a little fizzier than I’d like for top marks.
SMELL: Roasted coffee beans, bourbon barrel, sweet cream, milk and pure dark chocolate and some definite vanilla beans on the nose. Some alcohol is here too. Massive and plenty boozy. Bold stuff and the coffee is really nice.
TASTE: Roasted coffee beans, sweet milk chocolate and vanilla alongside a strong oak-bourbon barrel up front. Some decent alcohol at the swallow as well. Flavorful. Bold and lingering finish of bourbon, oak, sweet cream and vanilla beans. Milk chocolate sweetness combine with pure chocolate and roasted coffee beans, adding a strong bitterness to match the vanilla and butterscotch laced oak-bourbon barrel. Some alcohol lingers as well.
PALATE: Full body and slightly lower levels of carbonation. Heavy and silky slick, goes down creamy smooth and finishes quite sticky. Some heat lingers. Thick, heavy, silky and decadent.
OVERALL: The question: Why? The answer; YES! This is immortal. How anyone could rate this anything other than insanely awesome is beyond all common sense. Like the straight bourbon barrel release of this one, it's all-happiness all-the-time. These guys make the best base stout in the world, that being The Good Marshal himself, and whatever treatment they give him, whether it be turning him into the Mayan Hero Twins or morphing him into an even more heavily armed version of himself, it always works out like gold. This is no exception. Thanks again, desp! Lovely.
Marshal Zhukov's Imperial Stout- Bourbon Barrel Aged Penultimate Push from Cigar City Brewing
Beer rating:
96 out of
100 with
76 ratings
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