Black Metal Farmhouse Imperial Stout
Jester King Brewery

Bottle's been sitting in my fridge since I received it last August. Batch #16, March 25 2015

A little thinner appearing than I would prefer, with more granular carbonation, but it settles nicely with a solid finger plus of light brown head. Reddish tint at the edges of the glass.

Nose carries hints of currant and chocolate and rich red wine. More on the sweet/boozy side of things.

Flavour follows even further in this vein committing to a red wine fruit and vinegar direction which is unique though probably not my favourite manifestation if I'm truly approaching this as an RIS. Starts with a berry/cherry sweet which quickly gives way to sharply tart course. There are hints of roasted grains and coffee and all the other expected RIS-isms lurking somewhere in the shadows but this is the tart and the cherry and stone fruit notes first and foremost. Finishes quite bitter with the tart notes of plum skin lingering to combine and make for a punishing finish that will not be denied.

I'll be real: I'm not entirely sure how to go about approaching this beer. As an RIS... it jjust really isn't. Approaching it as a wild/sour/whatever the appropriate subgenre would be... it's quite well constructed and with warning can be enjoyable. I can only imagine what the Funk Metal I am preparing to crack and compare has to offer...
Thanks to @DomVan for sending this one along!

 

 

 

Black color with a medium-sized, beige head. Coffee, roasted malt, chocolate, and light dank notes in the aroma. Malty taste with notes of coffee and chocolate. Roasted bitterness at the end.

 

An utterly unique stout. Flavors of mushroom, smoke, chicory, dark earth, soy sauce, and burned wood. I am assuming this complex flavor profile is from Jester King’s fermentation process and the Hill Country oxygen. Not as adulterated as most stouts. Un-shaved glory.

L-Jet black with a half fingered tan head that becomes lacy as time goes by. There is no color to this beer. It legit is jet black. Darkest beer I've ever seen, I think. I love it.
S-Smokey, toasted malt, dark chocolate, sweet toffee, bitter dark roast coffee, BBQ, earthy dare I say... leathery? Almost savory. Some cherry and other stone fruit, wild yeast, and a slightly funky backbone of brettanomyces.
T-Toned down, bitter, and slightly sour. The flavor is slow to develop and subtle, but builds as the beer warms. It has a yeasty bite, with hints of licorice and black coffee. Vanilla and cocoa is there as well. A nice smokiness follows. Subtly sweet with a slight tinge of booze at the end.
F-Medium/full bodied with a dry mouth feel. Not much carbonation.
O-I feel like this beer embodies the name. Its dark, funky, weird, smoldering and oddly toned down. A doomy combination or fire roasted, strange and organic and punchy notes results in a really soli, aggressive, yet tempered down imperial stout.

obviously there are a couple of different versions of this, the old one with the english yeast, which to me still had just a little tinge of funkiness to it, and this one, which is done with the now famous mixed culture they have down there, way more expressive on the ferment, tart, especially with age, but really complex and quite different, not just a sour stout, a lot of wild character too, im sure ive had this before now, but perhaps i was looking at the listing for the original when considering it, they are absolutely two different beers. this is batch 19, 2017 vintage, courtesy of a good friend, a little lower alcohol this time around at 8.7%, i think still imperial but without quite as much viscosity as expected, and maybe just a little more sweetness than i thought this had, not quite fermented to zero and thus maybe a little lower alcohol as a result of that. gorgeous rich silky deep brown color to it, a sport inch plus of airy tan head, looks nicely refined and lively for the style. definitely licorice and pipe tobacco in the nose and taste, subtle black pepper, date, and burnt wood too, a hint of cola, earthy oats i reckon, and more hop bitterness than expected. its also real puckery, a little vinegar makes my mouth water, bacteria ahead of brett at this stage of its life, light caramel and toffee offsetting it. it warms up a little sharp, which makes this a small doses thing for me, but its neat against the bitter roast, and there is some raisin and even amarone wine character in the middle of this that i like a lot, birch syrup sweetness, licorice again, dark bitter chocolate late, and some farmy funk coming out. a little balsamic thing happening too which is neat, but this is a shade more sour than it needs to be, perhaps this has been exacerbated in the bottle over time. lightly syrupy and palate coating, but also with some carbonation keeping the flow up. unique and sort of addicting, but weird and kind of aggressive at the same time. would love to try this a little newer when perhaps the sourness is not so developed...

 

750 ml bottle, batch #15, Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. ABV is 9.3%, OG 1085, FG 1015, IBU 44. Pitch black colour (one of the darkest beers I’ve seen), large and impressive head with colour somewhere between coke grey and brown. Aroma of roasted malts, coffee, leather and chocolate, mixed with acidic and "farmhouse" notes of brettanomyces. The flavour is rich and medium sweet, with some fruity acidity, but is first and foremost dominated by roasty notes of coffee, hints of dark bitter chocolate and black pepper. Great stuff.

 

 

This just ain’t my style of beer, that’s why I scored it on the average, because I don’t feel I can fairly judge it. Like the brewers said themselves “you’re not gonna like this.” And I didn’t.

Looks great, like a wonderful imperial stout, but looks are deceiving. It’s very sour and I get a strong, unpleasant smokiness. The dryness made it almost drinkable, but not for me.

 

beautiful.
brutal.
funky.
appropriate.

this brew knows every Venom album lyric and their liner notes or lack-there-of and isn't afraid to punch me in the tear duct for acting like I do while sitting across the "pass it left" circle from it. and honestly, i respect the hell out of it for that.

 

 

750 ml bottle into a tulip snifter. Batch #20, bottled 12/2018, had 3/17/20.

Started as a fizzy foam bomb, but did not gush. Pours near black and opaque, with a huge, thick foamy head of darker foam with lots of foamy lacing. Aromas of yeast, chocolate, coffee, some licorice, some raisins and cocoa, a tart aroma that fades, some funk, faint cherries, a little black. The flavor shows a good amount of tartness up front, then yeast, chocolate, coffee, a fair amount of hop bitterness on the finish, a little licorice and anise, a little bit of an herbal taste. Smooth, a good medium to full body, heavily carbonated but doesn’t feel fizzy. At least after the first pour.

An interesting beer that is like a Belgian stout with different yeast. The coffee and chocolate aromas and flavors are the most prominent, but nothing really stands out. A solid effort, very enjoyable and well worth a purchase.