Teddy Mack Imperial Stout
People's Brewing Company

Nearly black with brown highlights and khaki-colored brown foam that leaves a ring around the glass. Looks nice, about what is expected from the style. The aroma is faint whiskey barrel. The taste follows the nose, and unfortunately a overwhelmed by a mediocre whiskey barrel. Notes of vanilla, spicy wood, sweet cherry. A bit of the base beer pokes through halfway through, with bitter hops and roasted malt joining the finish, and a tiny bit of chocolate. Medium body is a bit watery for a stout. Improves slightly as it warms. Overall less than the sum of its parts.

I had this one on tap at the Black Sparrow in Lafayette. It arrived a dark brown on the verge of black with a half finger beige head. It wasn't as thick or as viscous as it could be, so a little thin for a double stout. It smells of roasted malt and bitter chocolate, although in a subtle way. The flavors are of roasted malts up front. It has a light French roast coffee aspect to it. This leads to a bitter chocolate flavor that is probably the strong point of the beer. There is some subtle smoke and the finish is of bitter hops. The aftertaste is interesting. It's very malty and somewhat bitter. It's not something you normally get from a stout. It drinks a little thin and light for a stout. Overall I'd say it's ok but nothing spectacular.

Had on tap....

A- Pours a deep brownish black color. Half finger tan head shows poor retention. Some light spots of lace on the sides of the glass.

S- Roasted malts in the front of the beer give way to some bitter dark chocolate toward the middle of the beer. There is a light underlying smoked aroma in the ending of the beer with hints of bitter hops.

T- Nice roasted malts in the front of this get repleaced quickly by a deep dark chocolate flavor. Nothing really stops the bitterness which was a nice surprise. Light hints of smoke toward the middle with it lasting through toward the ending. The backend of the beer has a light bitterness throughout that at first comes through from the malt but the end is mostly from hop. Alcohol was a little sweet and never was too overwhelming.

M- Medium mouthfeel. Carbonation was good for the beer. Bitter dark chocolate and hints of bitter hop left on the palate. Aftertaste is mostly faded bitter hops, dark chocolate, light alcohol, and hints of smoke. Flavors were actually very well balanced which surprised me with the lack of hop overall in the beer. No off flavors were present. Medium alcohol drying on the palate.

D- This beer was a nice drinker. This beer along with other breweries ReplicAle this year seemed to be lacking the smoked flavor that I figured would be coming out in the style. The ABV was on the front of high end which made this a couple pint drinker but a nice beer nevertheless.

Definitely more of an American Double than an RIS. As per the brewery's facebook page:

"Teddy Mack Imperial Stout... We used a lot of base malt and seven different specialty malts in this beer resulting in a complex malt character, warming alcohol flavor, and thick brown head. Roasted and Chocolate malts dominate the nose and flavor profile. We balanced it with English Challenger hops. This is a great cold weather beer, warming and smooth to take away the chill.

Malts: Base, Aromatic, Cara 80, Smoked, Roasted, Black, Chocolate, and Dark Chocolate

ABV ~ 8.2% IBUs ~ 35"

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Snifters are on sale at the brewery for a very reasonable price. But, really, it's not much of a snifter beer. This is a firm, sweet stout with a nicely complex malt base. There's not much smokiness, but plenty of aromatics of the old timey bitters variety, along with a general roastiness and bitter nodes of very dark chocolate.

Tastes more like a very strong, sweet porter than an imperial stout. The hops are barely present, but the initial bittersweet chocolatiness is balanced pretty well by a bitter-sourn maltiness that sweeps in to dominate the beer's back end.