Imperiale Garde
Diebolt Brewing Company

A clear cherry amber color with no head.
Aroma of dark fruit and candy.
Taste follows the nose. Rather boozy.
A nice enough beer, but it is a little too boozy for me.

Bought two 12 ounce cans from Beer Drop and I think I will keep the other for a long while for two reasons. First, I want to re-taste this Imperiale next to Anton Francois, Diebolt's flagship and, probably, cash cow. (Imperiale is the double ABV of Anton.) Second, I have a theory that a double of table beer is too strong to have at the table. Imperiale, simply, is too strong to let the food do its work. This is my working conclusion with Imperiale Garde... until I do the side-by-side.

Imperiale has average Looks, but I bump it because I like how the label makes Napoleon sufficiently pompous. Smells invite me into a dark fruit bowl. But then, the punch gets delivered at too high an ABV. Everything else about the Taste is decent, but the alcohol reduces one of my favorite styles into a cheap thrill. My mouth Feel suffers the same ABV excess.

Overall, I'm getting to be a big fan of Diebolt and am still amazed that Colorado should have one of the world's great revivers of the Biere de Garde. But here we are and I'm looking for Anton. A Votre Sante'.

11/4/21 I didn't want to risk Anton not being available for my next shipment from Beer Drop, so I had the second can today and did a side-by-side with Off Color's Le Woof, a less powerful biere de garde. I've edited the above review, but the conclusion is only modestly altered: this style is for the table, and doubling its ABV is not a good idea. (But the joke on Napoleon is quite good... even better two centuries later.) As for me, give me Anton Francois ! Vive le difference ! I'm keeping count @ UnTappd.