Subluminal
Buxton Brewery

11.2 ounce bottle, bottled 01 MAR 17, best before 01 MAR 22 printed on label. Served in a snifter, the beer pours dark brown/black with about an inch and a half tan head that stuck around a while. There's also a lot of lacing. I like the aroma, the brew smells like burnt/charred malt, anise, bittersweet chocolate, caramel and coffee. For the most part I think the taste is the same as the aroma, but there's also some earthiness and dark fruity flavors noticeable too. Mouthfeel/body is medium/full, it's creamy and coating with a moderate amount of carbonation. I thought this was a good imperial stout, really like the roasty brews like this one is. The age hasn't hurt this beer at all, I'd pick up some more of this the next time I see it!

Nearly six year old bottle (3/1/17 drank 1/29/23); still a bit roasty, with the hops still surprisingly present and bitter. The bitterness and an overall watery aspect really drag this one down a few notches. There are some really nice flavors here, deep vinous notes, appealing oxidized sherry-like tones giving me a subtle
Oloroso vibe. It’s just not enough to lift this up to more than a curiosity and cool vintage find.

330 ml bottle as Subluminal Imperial Stout, from Vinmonopolet, Nettbutikken. ABV is 10%. Pitch black colour, moderate brown head. Aroma of roast malts, chocolate, vanilla, some vinous notes, hints of oak. Moderately sweet and distinctly roasty flavour, notes of strong coffee, dark chocolate, vanilla, again some vinous notes, and a woody, roasty and hoppy bitterness in the finish.

Bottled: 01Mar17

Pours pitch black brown with a creamy frothy subsiding tan brown foam head. Smells like dark fruits, blueberry, dark grapes, black cherry, plum, berries, dark chocolate, cola, espresso, toasted brown bread, marshmallow cream, caramel, brown sugar, dark toffee, blackstrap molasses, licorice, menthol, mint, with an abundance of herbal earthy hops. Tastes savory and umami, with dark baking chocolate, pure cacao, black espresso coffee, roasted malts, astringent burnt roasted barley, citrusy cola, dark fruits, dark berries, caramel, dark toffee, salty blackstrap molasses, charred brown sugar, licorice, tobacco, soy sauce, some menthol mint, with herbal earthy grassy pine. Feels medium bodied, creamy thick with moderate smooth carbonation. Overall a really nice imperial stout.

From the 11.2 oz bottle in a snifter. This decent little imperial pours a
deep and dark coal black with a nice head of brown foam that settles
to a thick ring, thin light swirling layer, and shows some subtle lacing.
Nose of dark cocoa, anise, char, heavy coffee, and toffee with hints
of vanilla. Flavors surpass the nose with a vanilla touched dark roasted
coffee note surrounded by char and dark bakers bittersweet chocolate
touched with a hint of cream and toffee with a bitter malt and subtle
herbal hop finish. Very nice mouth feel; low carbonation, smooth, rich,
full body, lightly warming on the rear, and finishing with a bitter malt
note.

Excellence. Very nice!

Cheers

 

Pours a deep black color with a medium top of dark-brown head, that dissolves quickly and leaves some lacings on the glass. Aroma is roasted malts, dark-chocolate,cocoa,coffee, dark fruits and vanilla. The flavours starts with strong tones of roasted malts with hints of coffee and chocolate. While I also sense some fruity notes there as well. The finish has a decent amount of bitterness , while I also sense some hints of licorice there as well, while the roasted malts in the backround stays there until the finish. A good lenght and strenght in the aftertaste. Full bodied with a medium carbonation. Mouthfeel is creamy and silky, and the alcohol is amazingly well hidden.
A very good and well made russian imperial stout.

 

 

 

 

 

Poured into a 16 oz Magnify Snulip bottled in March of 2017. Pours a viscious completely black with a massive 3 finger mocha head that leaves a bunch of thin lines of lace behind as it slowly settles into a thick layer of mocha bubbles.

Smell is strong dry coffee grounds, dark chocolate, toffee, vanilla beans, oats, and biscuity grain.

Taste follows this thing bold, strong expresso beans, vanilla, oats, biscuit, and cocoa.

Mouthfeel is chewy as it gets, plenty of carbonation, a tad dry but that isn’t a complaint, and it drinks bigger than 10% ABV but totally conceals that the alcohol.

Overall this is one of those stouts that leaves you speechless, almost baffled how it can taste so good. Chewy, roasty, toasty, and exactly what the name says. Thanks jzeilinger for this stand out stout.

 

Subluminal pours dark brown/black with a rich tan head - it smells a bit of cocoa, but also smells quite dry.

The taste was where I needed a bit of a break to process the beer. It's markedly the most dry, bitter stout that I can recall. Reading through other reviews, I seem to either have a bad bottle, or I am missing all of the sweet cream that others have mentioned. There is plenty of char, smoke, and bitterness... but the other elements seem to be lacking.

It's a decent beer, and what I thought of as a true to form Russian Imperial stout when I began my craft beer journey three years ago. Certainly not my favorite beer though.

330ml bottle from Brewdog.com (£3.57):
Strong & boozy with a lot of alcohol showing but this one was also quite a complex offering that opened with some dark malts & chocolate alongside a caramel sweetness which gave it quite a rich, warming feel. I'd have liked a better balance with less alcohol showing but the beer was still a drinkable one with a few roasted malts that turned smoky with some wood flavours towards the end; definitely one worth trying, especially for the price I paid for it but there are better imperial stouts out there too.

A - Dark brown/black pour with very thick and creamy toffee colored lacing that's extremely sticky on the sides of the glass.

S - Dark cocoa cream with some light char, molasses, and bitter chocolate.

T - Dark cocoa cream, some dark chocolate, dark fruit, some anise/black licorice, delicate smokey/char, and some booziness. Has a lingering dark chocolate char bitterness. 'Very nice finish on this beer.

M - Full bodied and silky with an extremely dry finish.

O - This is a fantastic Imperial Stout worth checking out.

 

330 ml bottle, Brewer's Droop, Bristol - Pours jet black with a small tanned foamy head, medium carbonation. Aroma - roasted coffee, ash, dark chocolate, woody boozy, whisky notes, dark berries. Taste - Sweet creamy front. roasted coffee, dark chocolate middle, hint of ash, smoke, very long bitter finish with light alcoholic warmth. Really nice bitter fronted imperial stout.