Imperial Brown Stout London 1856
The Kernel Brewery

 

On draft, maybe to come for me, very coffee, and bit too much lingering bitterness, almost burned flavour.

Coal-black body; about as deep of a brown as a beautiful, smooth, goblet-coating head can get. Forthright aroma of dark-roasted coffee beans, fresh out of the roaster. The flavor is equally forthright—admirably so—but so piercingly so that it requires some processing, some thought, some careful appreciation of its profundity Mouthfeel is immediately classifiable as close to perfect, but a little short of that mark by virtue of a relatively high level of carbonation. An excellent imperial stout.

 

 

330ml bottle.
L: Very dark brown (almost black) with a rich, long-lasting, mocha head.
S: Like you just walked into Porto Rico Importing Co on Bleecker St, New York, NY.
T: Massive, sweet espresso flavour plus black cherries and damsons.
F: Very smooth for 9.6% ABV. Rich, semi-sweet and bone dry. Hot alcohol in the finish.
O: A fantastic coffee stout. A big, big beer. So rich and smooth (despite the astringency). Amazing how much coffee flavour is delivered from just water, hops, sugar, yeast and barley.

Listed as 9.9% here, my bottle states that it is 9.5%.
L- Pitch black, not a photon gets through it even from a halogen torch held behing. Pours with 12MM creamy super-fine bubble looking deep-tan head. [20mins later = holds well].
S- Coffee, then dark cocoa, toasted and roasted. Oh + some mild ABV% notes.
T- WOOOaaah, coffee, ESPRESSOOOO!!! Super-dark deeep roast, log-fires, cinders, smokey edges, hazy memories, possible regrets, furry hearth rugs, dreams, then that yeti the next morning. All of that plus a well numbed tongue.
F- Seemingly thick to sip, striking and very different. Or maybe it's an impression due the flavour being sooo intense.
O- This is a beast. You likely have to enjoy straight black espresso, there are deep parallels IMHO. This is whacking my palate, no point expecting to taste anything more delicate for a while later.
Would I drink again? I don't know, it's impressive, has vast-giant character but do I need to experience such over and over? Not really, I prefer subtlety and something I might enjoy year-around, incl certainly up around this %level. It's a massive statement beer though. Trust me, waaaay more than it's 9.5% suggests. It's certainly one of the top-10 (of c1500) beers I've ever had for naked outright pungency.
330ml bottle. Bought from TremblingMadness/York (home delv > London) for £4.99 BB: .?... perhaps 1,000 years in the future, this thing might be indestructible.... nope 'July 2025'.

 

A 330ml bottle, bottled on 5th February 2016 and with a best before date of 5th February 2021. Poured into a snifter glass.

Appearance: A dark dark brown colour with a reddish hue and a thin tanned head that disappeared quickly but left lots of nice spotty lacing.

Aroma: Roasted malts, milk chocolate, caramel, coffee, chocolate milk, with hints of nuts and dark fruit.

Taste: Roasty, chocolate, coffee, chocolate milk, slight bitterness, hint of dark fruit and char.

Mouthfeel: Creamy, medium bodied with soft carbonation.

Overall: Body was perhaps lighter than I prefer, but despite this, it was still very enjoyable and great to sip.

Bottled and presumably bottle conditioned and purchased from Beermoth
Pours a jet black body with decent enough tan head
Aroma is treacle and chicory coffee
You’ve got that in the flavour
Full bodied

12oz bottle. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, light brown head of foam. It smelled of roasted malt, chocolate, molasses and toffee. Roasted coffee taste with chocolate, vanilla and molasses.

Black color, beige head, aroma of coffee, dark chocolate, roasted malts and alcohol, taste is medium sweet / lightly bitter with hints of dry red wine, full body, excellent.

 

 

 

Bottle Date: 7/25/18
Palate Contaminants: none

Lots of fine, light brown head. Decent amount of lacing. Discernably brown liquid, letting in very little light at the edges.

Straight up? It smells like Kahlua. Coffee, dairy creamer, and non-sweet (and non-bitter) dark chocolate. There's even some alcohol volatilizing.

The main taste is very heavily roasted coffee. Sweetness and bitterness might not have been on the nose, but they are up to detectable levels on the tongue, with bitterness winning the arm wrestling match. A little bit of desiccated dark fruit, somewhere between figs and prunes. Slight bit of honey. Alcohol shows up in the taste.

Weight is heavy, and the carbonation is fine. Aftertaste is unfortunately bitter charred wood, but the nose and taste were nice. It's also a bit disapponting that the alcohol isn't better hidden for a niner.

 

 

From lalonjadelacerveza. In Teku glass. Playing Avadon 3. Very toasted and nutty, with some herbal hoppy notes, maybe a bit more vegetal than desiderable. Alcohol fairly well hidden

A: dark, matte black. Like motor oil. Thin tan head

S: dark and milk chocolate, brown sugar, roasted malts, a hint of cola and some sweet malts. More roasted malt and chocolate to finish

T: rich roasted malts and chocolate up Front. A touch of alcohol and a smooth nutty note behind that. A touch of bitterness from the roasted malt behind that, which almost tastes like wood. A slight earthy hop note towards the end also. Finish is roasty and rich

M: heavy mouthfeel with mid carbonation

O: excellent stout. A decadent sipper that should be enjoyed slowly