Most Premium
Gigantic Brewing Company

2020 version - bottle share at Octobiére Festival in Toulouse, France.
Everything about is is good, but, after five years, there was zilch carbonation. I bet it was pretty dang good three years ago.
I’m happy to rate the corpse.

On tap at NW Growlers tonight.

The beer pours a pitch dark black color with decent head retention and considerable sticky lacing. The is attractive as well, as I pick up dark chocolate, vanilla and some underlying licorice. The flavor profile replicates the nose pretty closely in this moderately sweet impy stout, but with a surprisingly smooth and seamless finish. Mouthfeel is full, with a long, lingering finish. Alcohol is quite well integrated into the flavor profile.

Very nice beer. As others have suggested, this is very much an old school impy stout. It's a beer that also grew on me the more it warmed and deeper into the beer I got. I get the impression that Gigantic has tinkered with, and improved upon the recipe over time.

 

500ml bottle poured in to a nonic glass.

Look- Black as midnight with a massive cola colored head that has incredible holding power. Lacing heavy and beautiful. Hard to tell if there is much carbonation going on in this used motor oil.

Smell- Instantly got hit by all I can describe as fresh, warm rum cake followed by dark fruits (figs, dates, raisins) followed by chocolate/chocolate cake, burnt sugar, roasted nuts and licorice, a hint of spicy hop notes.

Taste- Replicates the smell with some boozy licorice or anise in there towards the end.

Feel- Medium/heavy bodied. Smooth as silk but almost a cloying sweetness. Very light carbonation on the tongue.

O- A little overly sweet, but a very nice RIS. Would repurchase myself and worth checking out overall.

 

 

Pours a dark thick but smaller foamy head, medium to lower retention, little lacing, very dark basically black with light legs

Nose dark roasty, inky dark charred malts dark cocoa, dark choc, baking spice, plenty of licorice, bitter dark black roast

Taste big rich dark malts, inky dark charred roast, black malt and roasted coffee, charred with some fudgey dark chocolate, flash of nougat, baking spices and plenty of licorice again, medium bitterness mostly from charred malts, a bit smokey

Mouth is fuller bod, rich creamy semi thicker, medium carb

Overall not bad, good dark malts and roast, nice spices, bitterness, etc, enjoyable

 

Nice example of an old school Russian Imperial Stout with nothing added. Couldn't find a date on bottle which was purchased at least a year ago #15 on label.

From a 500ml bottle, undated, just 2017. Served in a tulip.

Pours an impenetrable crankcase oil-black with no head to speak of, just a few big, dark coffee-coloured bubbles.

A fairly low-intensity nose of cherries and molasses.

Tastes of molasses, bitter, black, over-perked coffee sweetened with molasses. There's also a vaguely Robitussin-like quality, not necessarily in a bad way but there's definitely a cherry-flavoured cough syrup thing going on. Unexpectedly, it ends with an aftertaste of chocolate rum cake.

Feel is syrupy, medium-hefty bodied and under-carbonated - probably appropriate enough to the style but I'd have appreciated a bit more zip to lighten things up.

Overall, a tad sweet, sticky and syrupy for my tastes. Adjusting my expectations, I settled back on the couch and sipped away at it over the course of a couple of hours and enjoyed it well enough.

 

 

 

 

Great toasty chocolate balance

 

Sorry, this is underrated. Had it on tap just after Big Bad Baptist Tripple Barrel, preferred this beer. Much more pleasant and complex taste. Deep dark brown with a nice brown head and good lacing. Red wine and strawberry smell. Taste of dried dark cherries and other dark fruit. Flavors include cinnamon,vanilla and French roast coffee. Slightly boozy but in a way that enhances the flavor. Great beer!

Poured into a snifter, the appearance was a dark brown close to black color with an eggshell white quarter finger's worth of head. Subtly dissolved to leave some concave lace capping against the sides.
The aroma seemed to meld gently a nice robust roasty coffee to milk and dark chocolate nibs playing with a fine dark fruity sweetness. Light dark toast with a little bit of wafer further on the back end.
The flavor was moderately sweet with an engaging roastiness making a good play for the balance. Dark fruits are there, but fairly mild in their sweetness. Aftertaste was mainly the milk chocolate, dark fruits and dark toast.
The mouthfeel was about medium bodied with a fair sipping quality about it. Roastiness did present some grip along my tongue, but it wasn't 'too' distracting - seemed just enough to prevent any cloying possibilities. ABV felt pretty close to what was projected by the brewer. Carbonation felt spot on. Mild finish of the dark fruits and milk chocolate with a touch of a bitterness edge from the dark chocolate.
Overall, now that's a pretty nice Russian Imperial Stout, well worthy of coming back to and having this time of the year.