Squatters Outer Darkness | Utah Brewers Cooperative
Brewed by:
Utah Brewers Cooperative
utahbeers.com
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 10.50%
Availability: Rotating
Notes / Commercial Description:
Welcome to the biggest beer Squatters Pub Brewery has ever made! A Russian Imperial Stout is one of the most intensely flavored beers a brewer can create. The combination of rich roasted barley, oak, molasses and licorice root combine to create an utterly unique and complex imperial stout experience.
We had to mash in twice to get our starting gravity of 27 plato (1.108 specific gravity). We boiled 3.5 hrs to enhance caramelization and used molasses and licorice root at the end of boil. Outer Darkness is aged with oak, has 65 IBUs and bottle conditioned. We hope you have as much fun drinking it as we did making it. Please share with another and drink wisely.
Added by Wasatch on 12-24-2009
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers
Ratings: 593 | Reviews: 186
3.78/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.75
Appearance: A seriously black glass, even strong back light only shows a thin edge of brown that goes ruby before complete darkness. Even the edge of the glass won't let light through, it's impressive. Holds a thin cover of tan foam that give a few dots of lace.
Aroma: Dark roasted barley, light citric and pine hop note, hint of barrel.
Taste: The roasted goes a bit burnt, the barrel goes a bit sour, but underneath there's a bubble gum sweetness that flashes before malt and alcohol set in.
Mouthfeel: Heavy body triggers a small chew, smooth texture, warming finish, low carbonation.
Overall: It's a big swing, lots of flavor, lots of alcohol. There is a "jet fuel" element that brings down scores a bit, but there is a lot right here too. I don't care for licorice and so that brings my scores down a bit. A slow sipper and worth a try.
847 characters
look: 5 | smell: 3.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.75
Appearance: A seriously black glass, even strong back light only shows a thin edge of brown that goes ruby before complete darkness. Even the edge of the glass won't let light through, it's impressive. Holds a thin cover of tan foam that give a few dots of lace.
Aroma: Dark roasted barley, light citric and pine hop note, hint of barrel.
Taste: The roasted goes a bit burnt, the barrel goes a bit sour, but underneath there's a bubble gum sweetness that flashes before malt and alcohol set in.
Mouthfeel: Heavy body triggers a small chew, smooth texture, warming finish, low carbonation.
Overall: It's a big swing, lots of flavor, lots of alcohol. There is a "jet fuel" element that brings down scores a bit, but there is a lot right here too. I don't care for licorice and so that brings my scores down a bit. A slow sipper and worth a try.
847 characters
3.86/5 rDev -5.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 3.75
3.82/5 rDev -6.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Super deep black with a lasting head of 1 finger, beige-brown. Loopy lace left behind in the snifter.
Aromas of black olives and caramel, tobacco and dark fruit.
Flavor is much the same, black olive and tobacco with caramel underneath. Some coffee and antiseptic dark fruit.
Feel is slightly under carbonated, yet not creamy, kind of just slick overall. Roasty finish.
Overall, a little underwhelming, but not a bad beer. There are better RIS's out there, but this isn't by any means the worst.
501 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
Super deep black with a lasting head of 1 finger, beige-brown. Loopy lace left behind in the snifter.
Aromas of black olives and caramel, tobacco and dark fruit.
Flavor is much the same, black olive and tobacco with caramel underneath. Some coffee and antiseptic dark fruit.
Feel is slightly under carbonated, yet not creamy, kind of just slick overall. Roasty finish.
Overall, a little underwhelming, but not a bad beer. There are better RIS's out there, but this isn't by any means the worst.
501 characters
2.84/5 rDev -30.4%
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
Pours a black color. 1/5 inch head of a brown color. Decent retention and good lacing. Smells of slight roasted malt, sweet malt, alcohol, slight spicy hops, slight wood, hint of chocolate, and molasses. Fits the style of a Russian Imperial Stout. Mouth feel is smooth and clean, with a low carbonation level. There are strong metallic notes, an elevated roasted malt bitterness, and as acridness. Tastes of slight roasted malt, sweet malt, alcohol, and slight spicy hops. Overall, the acridness overpower any good qualities of the body.
537 characters
look: 3.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 2 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 2.75
Pours a black color. 1/5 inch head of a brown color. Decent retention and good lacing. Smells of slight roasted malt, sweet malt, alcohol, slight spicy hops, slight wood, hint of chocolate, and molasses. Fits the style of a Russian Imperial Stout. Mouth feel is smooth and clean, with a low carbonation level. There are strong metallic notes, an elevated roasted malt bitterness, and as acridness. Tastes of slight roasted malt, sweet malt, alcohol, and slight spicy hops. Overall, the acridness overpower any good qualities of the body.
537 characters
3.85/5 rDev -5.6%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Sampled at Boise’s Imperial Stout get together (2014), over 120 bottles to choose from. Going with the flow on this rating. This one was one of my contributions. Black and oily, roasty, and boozy without the barrel aging. Nice.
229 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
Sampled at Boise’s Imperial Stout get together (2014), over 120 bottles to choose from. Going with the flow on this rating. This one was one of my contributions. Black and oily, roasty, and boozy without the barrel aging. Nice.
229 characters
4.04/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from 12oz can into glass. Stamped on can bottom is 'ENJOY BY 07/22/19'.
Black colored body, with very small brown highlights (to light presentation). Dark tan head settles to thick cap. Webs of lacing left behind after each sip.
Aroma of dark roasted malts and coffee, and alcohol. Overall smell is faint.
Taste is much more layered than the aroma. Lots of chocolate in the taste, along with coffee, molasses, dark roasted malts, licorice/anise, and the barrel character of oak/vanilla/ and booze.
Medium, somewhat creamy mouth feel.
Kind of harsh on the taste with the level of dark roast and the booze. Tasty but the alcohol burn limits the amount and frequency of each sip.
683 characters
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Poured from 12oz can into glass. Stamped on can bottom is 'ENJOY BY 07/22/19'.
Black colored body, with very small brown highlights (to light presentation). Dark tan head settles to thick cap. Webs of lacing left behind after each sip.
Aroma of dark roasted malts and coffee, and alcohol. Overall smell is faint.
Taste is much more layered than the aroma. Lots of chocolate in the taste, along with coffee, molasses, dark roasted malts, licorice/anise, and the barrel character of oak/vanilla/ and booze.
Medium, somewhat creamy mouth feel.
Kind of harsh on the taste with the level of dark roast and the booze. Tasty but the alcohol burn limits the amount and frequency of each sip.
683 characters
4.02/5 rDev -1.5%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Look - incredibly dark thick and sticky lacing
Smell - roasted malts and booze
Taste - really roasty and boozy like the smell.
feel - medium full body and a light carbonation
Overall - not bad, really boozy
207 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
Look - incredibly dark thick and sticky lacing
Smell - roasted malts and booze
Taste - really roasty and boozy like the smell.
feel - medium full body and a light carbonation
Overall - not bad, really boozy
207 characters
4.04/5 rDev -1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
Most definitely an opaque black body with a smallish head the colour of burnt peanuts. There is very little lacing.
Smells like coffee and toffee, but the tastes ain’t exactly similar. It’s Ethiopian light roast and sweet malts and perique tobacco-esque hop notes. Carbonation is very light.
Good! But not great.
324 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 3.75
Most definitely an opaque black body with a smallish head the colour of burnt peanuts. There is very little lacing.
Smells like coffee and toffee, but the tastes ain’t exactly similar. It’s Ethiopian light roast and sweet malts and perique tobacco-esque hop notes. Carbonation is very light.
Good! But not great.
324 characters
4.36/5 rDev +6.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4
3.62/5 rDev -11.3%
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Thin half finger of extremely dark brown head, does not coalesce enough to really call it “foam” and it is gone seconds after the pour, zero lacing. Pitch black liquid with a thin sliver of yellow at the edges, some fat bubbles are visible clinging to the glass side but clearly few made it to the surface. The nose is blunt and lacks movement and length, a shame since there seems to be an abundance of milk chocolate, vanilla bean, black licorice, lactose and wood char, not getting any fruit scents, barley and rice, then band-aid, can’t shake nagging suspicion there’s something like bacterial taint going on. In the mouth it’s smooth to the point that the full body seems lighter. Minimal if any carbonation. The booziness in your face and you feel it, can taste like a shot of bourbon. So, no surprise you get vanilla, molasses, and smoky wood char. The licorice, anise in full effect and layers on fried bacon notes. As in the nose no specific fruit materializes. No chicory but verges on bitter. Truncated finish. Not sure what’s up here but not the experience expected. Willing to revisit with a can from a different batch. (Best by 07/30/18)
1,163 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.5
Thin half finger of extremely dark brown head, does not coalesce enough to really call it “foam” and it is gone seconds after the pour, zero lacing. Pitch black liquid with a thin sliver of yellow at the edges, some fat bubbles are visible clinging to the glass side but clearly few made it to the surface. The nose is blunt and lacks movement and length, a shame since there seems to be an abundance of milk chocolate, vanilla bean, black licorice, lactose and wood char, not getting any fruit scents, barley and rice, then band-aid, can’t shake nagging suspicion there’s something like bacterial taint going on. In the mouth it’s smooth to the point that the full body seems lighter. Minimal if any carbonation. The booziness in your face and you feel it, can taste like a shot of bourbon. So, no surprise you get vanilla, molasses, and smoky wood char. The licorice, anise in full effect and layers on fried bacon notes. As in the nose no specific fruit materializes. No chicory but verges on bitter. Truncated finish. Not sure what’s up here but not the experience expected. Willing to revisit with a can from a different batch. (Best by 07/30/18)
1,163 characters
3.78/5 rDev -7.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.5 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
4.04/5 rDev -1%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
1 PINT, 9 FLUID OUNCE bottle
Served in a snifter
Enjoy by 03/02/16
This beer pours black and is topped with an inch of deep mocha head that leaves spotty lacing.
Anise and dark chocolate are the first to greet my nose. I also get roasted malt and hints of black coffee.
Once again anise and dark chocolate are the stars of the taste. There is some mild bitterness in the finish with dark, roasted malt.
Full bodied, thick, viscous
This is a solid stout. It reminds me a lot of Founders Imperial Stout or Bell Epedition Stout. Plus it has aged very well.
559 characters
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
1 PINT, 9 FLUID OUNCE bottle
Served in a snifter
Enjoy by 03/02/16
This beer pours black and is topped with an inch of deep mocha head that leaves spotty lacing.
Anise and dark chocolate are the first to greet my nose. I also get roasted malt and hints of black coffee.
Once again anise and dark chocolate are the stars of the taste. There is some mild bitterness in the finish with dark, roasted malt.
Full bodied, thick, viscous
This is a solid stout. It reminds me a lot of Founders Imperial Stout or Bell Epedition Stout. Plus it has aged very well.
559 characters
4.25/5 rDev +4.2%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.06/5 rDev -0.5%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12oz can. Poured out an opaque, jet-black head of foam. It smelled of coffee, chocolate and roasted malt. Strong roasted notes with coffee, chocolate with a nice bitterness.
173 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
12oz can. Poured out an opaque, jet-black head of foam. It smelled of coffee, chocolate and roasted malt. Strong roasted notes with coffee, chocolate with a nice bitterness.
173 characters
4.07/5 rDev -0.2%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
From a twelve ounce can, this brew is utterly black. The head is tan and soapy. The aroma is intense...smokey, coffee, licorice, The taste is balanced slightly sweet, with roasted malt and spicy hops. Alcohol warming. The body is exceptionally thick and luxurious. Excellent beer.
285 characters
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4
From a twelve ounce can, this brew is utterly black. The head is tan and soapy. The aroma is intense...smokey, coffee, licorice, The taste is balanced slightly sweet, with roasted malt and spicy hops. Alcohol warming. The body is exceptionally thick and luxurious. Excellent beer.
285 characters
3.9/5 rDev -4.4%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.2/5 rDev +2.9%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Acquired long ago from Wasatch so a big “Thank you” goes out to him. Born on date of 2/22/11, poured from 16.9oz bottle into a tulip glass.
A: The beer is a deep black color, with a short dark brown head that fades slowly and leaves a thin lace on the glass.
S: The aroma contains strong chocolate, licorice, molasses and roasted malts.
T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of chocolate, coffee, molasses and licorice. Then a hearty roasted malt character comes in along with a mild alcohol sting. The hops presence is extremely mild as expected for a beer of this style and age. There’s a very good balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet and slightly bready.
M: Smooth and quite viscous, medium-to-heavy body, light-to-medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.
O: Very tasty, goes down dangerously easy, slightly filling, strong kick, very good representation of style, this is a very good big stout to sip on for a long time and it seems to have aged quite nicely.
993 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
Acquired long ago from Wasatch so a big “Thank you” goes out to him. Born on date of 2/22/11, poured from 16.9oz bottle into a tulip glass.
A: The beer is a deep black color, with a short dark brown head that fades slowly and leaves a thin lace on the glass.
S: The aroma contains strong chocolate, licorice, molasses and roasted malts.
T: The taste starts out sweet with flavors of chocolate, coffee, molasses and licorice. Then a hearty roasted malt character comes in along with a mild alcohol sting. The hops presence is extremely mild as expected for a beer of this style and age. There’s a very good balance. The after-taste is slightly sweet and slightly bready.
M: Smooth and quite viscous, medium-to-heavy body, light-to-medium carbonation, finish is slightly sticky.
O: Very tasty, goes down dangerously easy, slightly filling, strong kick, very good representation of style, this is a very good big stout to sip on for a long time and it seems to have aged quite nicely.
993 characters
4.23/5 rDev +3.7%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
4.29/5 rDev +5.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.68/5 rDev +14.7%
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Totally black, poured with only some head so I rocked the can a bit
Smell is hellish, smell burnt malt and wood, some chocolate
Taste is carmelly and BITTER, shook my spine, second sip brought out even more chocolate like taste, and the slightest amount of sweetness
Overall a great stout
As a side note I tried to hold LED lights on one end of the glass to show color, the light couldn't make it through, I had to shine it to a corner where the light only made it past 1/8th of inch of light, this part I managed to light through was very red
544 characters
look: 5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
Totally black, poured with only some head so I rocked the can a bit
Smell is hellish, smell burnt malt and wood, some chocolate
Taste is carmelly and BITTER, shook my spine, second sip brought out even more chocolate like taste, and the slightest amount of sweetness
Overall a great stout
As a side note I tried to hold LED lights on one end of the glass to show color, the light couldn't make it through, I had to shine it to a corner where the light only made it past 1/8th of inch of light, this part I managed to light through was very red
544 characters
Squatters Outer Darkness from Utah Brewers Cooperative
Beer rating:
4.08 out of
5 with
593 ratings
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