Cavalier Imperial Stout
Cavalier Beer

 

 

Served on tap at the Local.

Completely opaque. Very dry, with loads of coffee on the exquisite nose.

(2014 - 8%) Spot on - big and flavourful with solid fruit sweetness backed up by big coffee bitterness.

Aroma: chocolate, coffee, aniseed, spiced fruit and slight wine and vanilla

Taste: chocolate, coffee, spiced wine soaked fruit, cherry cocoa and slight aniseed.

500ml 2013 vintage (8%) poured from bottle into pint

L - Poured jet black, slightly oily and viscous. Good 2 finger mocha head which hung around for 3 or 4 minutes
S - Bitter chocolate and coffee with some sweetness. Really nice toasted malt and caramel
T - Lots of semi-sweet chocolate. Hints of coffee and toasted nuttiness. A bit dryer too, not overly sweet which I really like. Alcohol is integrated very well, no heat at all. As it warms and opens up it really hits its stride - the chocolate in particular is very pronounced and the bitterness is held in check so it doesn't overwhelm. Very balanced.
M - A touch prickly from carbonation (but I tend to prefer a little less carbonation). Nice malt backbone with a silky mouth feel. I usually expect Imp. Stouts with a bit of age to start feeling thin, but this hasn't - it is very nice. As it warms and sits the prickliness does subside a little.

Overall I was absolutely stunned by this - I was expecting a nice solid Impy stout, but this was very, very good - right up there swinging with all the Americans I usually drink )(I am from Chicago)like tenfidy, expedition and founders imperial. If anything the slightly lower ABV allows for a richer mouth feel and I loved it.

 

 

Tried at the Sydney Craft Beer Week launch party.

Pours a very dark brown. Decent beige head of small bubbles. Nice cradle of lace. Looks pretty good.

Smells roasty, chocolatey, quite sweet. Bit of a byproduct of heavy fermentation. Quite ethanoic, but yeah, just a thorn in the side of an otherwise very pleasant stout aroma.

Taste is roasty, bit more sweet with chocolate notes, a touch of coffee, some leather notes as well. Burnt slightly, slight booziness, but yeah mostly just dark big complexities. Pleasant. I've become a fan of Cavalier beer today, yeah.

Full but a bit boozey. Maybe not as full bodied as it could be. Bit sharp on the back.

Nice imperial stout. Big flavours, well handled.

Pours black with a large, lasting dark tan head.
Nose shows cocoa, roasted barley, coffee and some spicy noble hops.
Flavours include cocoa, ash, roasted barley, sweet malt, liquorice. Nice bittersweet finish.
Carbonation could be higher.
Nice stuff.

Tried from a bottle at Vic on the Park during the Sydney Craft Beer Week opening party.

From the start, this looks the part: deep, black and dark, almost opaque. Solid, slightly frothy head formed of large brown bubbles. There's some decent, but not intense weight behind it. Minimal carbonation, but what forms is fine. Looks good.

Nose is a little milder than it could be, but there's definitely pleasant notes behind it. Toasty vanilla, slight mild roastiness and a hint of coconut. Some chocolate comes through with a cocoa character dominant—it's dark rather than rich and sweet. Pleasant, but a bit milder than it could have been.

Taste is smoother, with the vanilla coming through more strongly, creating a creamy roast character and a hint of fruit. Cherry chocolate comes through on the finish, dark and broad with pip and stem fruit characters on the back, and a slight reminiscence of dried apricot. It's really nice and very interesting and flavoursome.

Feel is smooth and pleasant, which helps integrated the flavours. Lovely.

Yep, this is grand stuff. The fruitiness that comes out above the dark roasted basis is very fine indeed, and creates a lovely strange interest out of the brew. Great beer.