Virginia Black Bear
Lickinghole Creek Craft Brewery

 

16oz can into a pint glass. Canned 11/20/19, so 6 1/2 months old.

Looks very good. Black with some brown tints body. Small tan head shrinks to a ring, but does leave a little lacing early on.

Roasty, licorice aroma with a little dark fruit.

On tasting, no real fruit or molasses notes come through. It is quite bitter, and roast is a little on the heavy side. There are some licorice flavors.

Mouth close to full, finish a bitter roast with a slight metallic touch on the he tip of the tongue. It seems a little less bitter as it warms

Overall, just a little too aggressive for my palate, no sweetness to balance out the roast and bitterness.

The past couple of days have been an amazing CANmalgam of Goses & Pilsners, but now my supply is exhausted. I had the Duvel as kind of an oddball, but it will lead me back to some of the breweries from which I reviewed beers the last couple of days, including Transmitter, Manayunk (CANayunk), Sly Fox, Conshohocken (CANshohocken), Sloop & Great North. Following that excursion, I will be focusing on imports for a while, bringing me full circle to that one. Stay tuned. It's gonna be CANother wild ride on The CANQuest (tm)! For a while, ending now, it is going to look like an undulating sine wave, bouncing between Lickinghole Creek, Two Bandits & Manayunk!

From the CAN: "Virginia Black Bear Russian Imperial Stout"; "Virginia's Farm Brewery"; "Two-time Gold Medal Winner at the Virginia Craft Brewers Cup. Bold and aggressive best describe this assertive ale. Ten specialty grains comprise the backbone of the beer and high alpha American hops give the bear her teeth. Notes of dark chocolate and roasted coffee abound. Used as the base beer for the Enlightened Despot, the Virginia Black Bear has escaped to wander where she wants."

I hope that she wants to be in my glass, my mouth & my belly, in that order, following a Crack! of the vent & a slow, gentle C-Line Glug! If not, she's going to be a problem. She CAN't have been too angry since she evinced a pseudo-cascade that eventually settled into two-plus fingers of dense, foamy, rocky, deep-tan/light-brown head with excellent retention. Color was Very Dark Brown to Black/Opaque (SRM = > 34, < 44) with garnet highlights at the edges. Nose was very roasty & quite chocolaty, like dark, bittersweet chocolate had been used in the recipe. Mmm. Mouthfeel was full & thick, like a dollop had been scooped into my mouth & onto my tongue. The taste was pleasantly bitter, very dark-roasted with notes of coffee, chocolate & charcoal as well as a hoppiness of undetermined origin in terms of which varieties were used. Mmm. The site's Style Guide gives a good bit of leeway for this one. I am not a huge fan of RISs, finding them to generally be too sweet for my refined (ha!) tastes. That was NOT the case here. It was pleasantly bitter throughout with a dry finish. I am looking forward to reviewing more bears, er, beers from them in the future. YMMV.

 

 

16oz can poured into a snifter

A- pours jet black in color with a one-finger creamy dark tan head that reduces to a film on top

S- sharp metallic note dominates the aroma up front, undertones of charred malt, chocolate, coffee, citrus & piney hops close it out

T- big hit of piney and citrus hops immediately that dominates up front, mid-palate brings out undertones of char, dark chocolate, coffee, dark fruit and licorice. The finish gives more of an onslaught of piney and citrus hops that lingers

M- medium body with moderate carbonation leads to a creamy mouthfeel that continues into the finish

O- way to hoppy, so much that it overpowers the roasted notes of the stout, which is pretty hard to do

 

Pours a dark brown color with a light brown head, tall head that lingers for quite some time. Smell is sweet dark fruit notes, followed by dark chocolate, hint of coffee, and roasted malts. Taste is dark chocolate, roasted malts, coffee, little smoke. Notable bitterness that does linger at the finish. Creamy and smooth. This is nice, that feel is awesome and I don't find the bitterness to be overwhelming.

Sampling a 750 ml bottle at cellar temp poured into a snifter. THe beer pours a jet black color with a fluffy khaki colored head of 4.5 cm foaming up in my glass, even after a gentle pour. The foam is fading slowly to a sturdy surface layer that remains throughout the sampling.
The aroma is dark chocolate and cacao with some coffee grounds and roasted malt. I actually get a little bit of char and some dark fruit mixed in on this fairly complex nose.
The first sip reveals a silky smooth textured body with fine gentle carbonation that rolls across my palate. This beer is great with its physical traits.
Flavor is roasted malt and some roasted malt, a little dark chocolate and coffee grounds and then a very roasty finish, that borders on some bitterness. the bitterness is not from hops though just black malts. I dont really get any hint of the booze so that is well hidden.
this is a very nice olde school imperial stout with none of the adjuncts or sweetness that many of the beers coming out today possess. Glad to have tried it and will pickup some other bottles from this brewery next time I travel to PA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

L) This RIS looks fantastic, pours a lovely, oily dark brown reminiscent of espresso. The head is a dark khaki with great retention and lacing.

S) The smell is very roast forward, and some hoppiness can be detected. There is a smidgen of yeast on the nose, it almost has that "homebrew" smell.

T) The taste is similar to the nose. Lots of roastiness on the palate, but maybe a touch too much black malt and hops, the bitterness is a tad astringent.

F) The mouth-feel for this beer is rich and creamy, an absolute pleasure to sip.

O) I would recommend this to Virginian RIS drinkers, a really solid local.