Russian Imperial Stout
Bandwagon Brewery

The beer pours a pitch black color with a thick frothy tan head that slowly fades to lacing. The aroma is decent. It has a rich black and chocolate malt scent along with a mild alcohol warmth. Some may find the malt sweetness a bit much. The taste is decent as well. It has a nice mix of black and chocolate malts, however it seems they leave behind a lot of residual sugars. I suspect the mash temperature is too high or the beer isn't fermenting completely. The mouthfeel is fine. It is a full bodied beer with low/adequate carbonation. This is an easy drinking RIS, but it needs to ferment more fully to reduce the sweetness and add just a bit more alcohol.

Bandwagon's Russian Imperial Stout has the right look to it, with a dark, opaque body and almost two fingers of brown head that are creamy and foamy. The retention is fairly good, and the regular rings of lacing are rather nice.

The aroma has a lot of sweetness and some roasted characteristics, but it doesn't qualify as a complex, full aroma by any means.

I enjoy the flavor of stout more than I did the aroma, especially as the beer warms and opens up a bit. The malty sweetness still dominates the flavor, and it is balanced once again by roasted malts. I also taste some chocolate and maybe even a hint of a dark fruity character. The finish has a moderately powerful warming effect from the alcohol, but it is rather pleasant.

The body is full and stands up to the size of the beer easily.

This is a decent Imperial Stout, Bandwagon is stepping up its brewing game for sure.