Berserker Imperial Stout | Midnight Sun Brewing Co.
Brewed by:
Midnight Sun Brewing Co.
Alaska, United States
midnightsunbrewing.com
Style: American Double / Imperial Stout
Alcohol by volume (ABV): 12.70%
Availability: Fall
Notes / Commercial Description:
Vicious and viscous, this menacing brew pours opaque black with a creamy maduro-colored head. Its aroma offers seductive whiskey, chewy red wine, dark fruit and lavish tobacco. Berserker Imperial Stout invades your taste buds with in-your-face flavor. Weighing in at almost 13% alcohol by volume, Berserker is completely out-of-control. Give it a good fight. Berserker Imperial Stout was aged in both red wine and whiskey barrels.
Original release of Berserker was at 10.4%, subsequent vintages have gone upwards of 12.7%. When reviewing, please list beer vintage and that vintage's specific ABV.
30 IBU
Added by BeerAdvocate on 12-13-2005
HISTOGRAM
View: Beers | Place Reviews
Ratings: 1,198 | Reviews: 300
4.35/5 rDev +0.5%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.25/5 rDev -1.8%
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
4.12/5 rDev -4.8%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.25 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.25
4.65/5 rDev +7.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
4.5/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
4.24/5 rDev -2.1%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A 22 fl. oz. bomber with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter.
Appearance: Black in colour with a one finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Molasses, brown sugar, maple, chocolate, banana bread and bourbon with hints of coffee and oak.
Taste: Sweet molasses, milk chocolate, maple, dark fruit and bourbon with hints of oak, bitter char, smoke and coffee.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, medium to full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Nice aromas and taste but perhaps just slightly too sweet for me. The molasses were also a bit overpowering and I would have preferred more maple coming through.
706 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
A 22 fl. oz. bomber with no clear bottled on or best before date. Poured into a snifter.
Appearance: Black in colour with a one finger brown head that dissipated fairly quickly to a ring around the glass while leaving some sparse lacing.
Aroma: Molasses, brown sugar, maple, chocolate, banana bread and bourbon with hints of coffee and oak.
Taste: Sweet molasses, milk chocolate, maple, dark fruit and bourbon with hints of oak, bitter char, smoke and coffee.
Mouthfeel: Creamy, smooth, medium to full bodied with low carbonation.
Overall: Nice aromas and taste but perhaps just slightly too sweet for me. The molasses were also a bit overpowering and I would have preferred more maple coming through.
706 characters
3.8/5 rDev -12.2%
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
22oz bottle poured into a snifter. Bottle was cellared 2-3 years before consumption.
A: Motor oil black. Brown head settles out after a short time. Wispy lacing.
S: Blackstrap molasses, thick fudge sauce. Hints of roast and char. Smoke. Vinous in a pinot noir sort of way, with a lot of black cherry and blackberry. Oaky vanillins.
T: Thick fudge sauce up front. Acrid and burnt/roasty edge rides up. French roast coffee, smokey. Big wave of sweet and sticky molasses and maple syrup. Chocolate covered cherries. Black currant too. Vinous- Pinot Noir. Cedar. Warming bourbon, barrel char, and oak. Long finish as sticky sweet molasses tapers into a lingering smokey note.
M: Thick and heavy body. Sticky and coating- rife with residual sugars. Low carbonation further lets that texture set in.
O: A massive imperial stout. Big molasses and maple syrup additions sweeten things quite a bit, and actually to the point that they become somewhat cloying. Barrel aging and a good dose of roast and some acrid/smokey malt character struggle, and ultimately fail, to keep it enough in balance. Still enjoyable in smaller doses, as a slow sipper. Good as a digestive, or I'd pair it with a fruit-forward and hopefully tart/acidic dessert.
1,237 characters
look: 4 | smell: 4 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.5 | overall: 3.75
22oz bottle poured into a snifter. Bottle was cellared 2-3 years before consumption.
A: Motor oil black. Brown head settles out after a short time. Wispy lacing.
S: Blackstrap molasses, thick fudge sauce. Hints of roast and char. Smoke. Vinous in a pinot noir sort of way, with a lot of black cherry and blackberry. Oaky vanillins.
T: Thick fudge sauce up front. Acrid and burnt/roasty edge rides up. French roast coffee, smokey. Big wave of sweet and sticky molasses and maple syrup. Chocolate covered cherries. Black currant too. Vinous- Pinot Noir. Cedar. Warming bourbon, barrel char, and oak. Long finish as sticky sweet molasses tapers into a lingering smokey note.
M: Thick and heavy body. Sticky and coating- rife with residual sugars. Low carbonation further lets that texture set in.
O: A massive imperial stout. Big molasses and maple syrup additions sweeten things quite a bit, and actually to the point that they become somewhat cloying. Barrel aging and a good dose of roast and some acrid/smokey malt character struggle, and ultimately fail, to keep it enough in balance. Still enjoyable in smaller doses, as a slow sipper. Good as a digestive, or I'd pair it with a fruit-forward and hopefully tart/acidic dessert.
1,237 characters
4.25/5 rDev -1.8%
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
4.58/5 rDev +5.8%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
650ml 2016 bomber poured into tulip 30/10/17 A big brew for a big milestone #3000
A black right out of the bottle, some of the darkest liquid I've seen followed by some of the noisiest and darkest foam I've seen, fizzled out leaving no lace but to be expected when wide legs are forming, swirls stick a fair bit of color to the glass....nice looking liquid
S maple, brown sugar, molasses, bourbon barrel, lots of dark fruit, chocolate syrup and fudge, faint smoke, charred wood, red berries, port wine, and a little coffee there's lots going on
T some booze but they did a great job hiding the 12.7%, everything I could smell is still there in one form or another, molasses comes out a little heavy, has a burnt port barrel thing going on, tastes great but I preferred the nose
M shes got some weight that's for sure, sticky as can be, enough carbonation to give it some life, slick inside the mouth, some heat going down but hits your chest and head pretty hard
O fantastic stuff, so much going on its hard to keep track of, so rich, so thick, this stuffs a meal in a glass, even this fairly young bottle has mellowed nicely, a world class brew
One of the better stouts I've had in a long time and a great choice for #3000, I should've grabbed more of these to age when I had the chance as I could see it being crazy good with another couple years on it
1,368 characters
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
650ml 2016 bomber poured into tulip 30/10/17 A big brew for a big milestone #3000
A black right out of the bottle, some of the darkest liquid I've seen followed by some of the noisiest and darkest foam I've seen, fizzled out leaving no lace but to be expected when wide legs are forming, swirls stick a fair bit of color to the glass....nice looking liquid
S maple, brown sugar, molasses, bourbon barrel, lots of dark fruit, chocolate syrup and fudge, faint smoke, charred wood, red berries, port wine, and a little coffee there's lots going on
T some booze but they did a great job hiding the 12.7%, everything I could smell is still there in one form or another, molasses comes out a little heavy, has a burnt port barrel thing going on, tastes great but I preferred the nose
M shes got some weight that's for sure, sticky as can be, enough carbonation to give it some life, slick inside the mouth, some heat going down but hits your chest and head pretty hard
O fantastic stuff, so much going on its hard to keep track of, so rich, so thick, this stuffs a meal in a glass, even this fairly young bottle has mellowed nicely, a world class brew
One of the better stouts I've had in a long time and a great choice for #3000, I should've grabbed more of these to age when I had the chance as I could see it being crazy good with another couple years on it
1,368 characters
3.77/5 rDev -12.9%
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
look: 4 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
4.38/5 rDev +1.2%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.33/5 rDev 0%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.2/5 rDev -3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
2015 Vintage
Pour is viscous, this looks to be a beast. Aroma is pretty amazing as well, dark berries, chocolate, oak, bourbon and you can feel the heat of this beast in the nose. Taste is alot first sip, the barrel dominates and there is forsure a ton of heat on this for a 12.7%. There is a dark red wine bitterness towards the finish that takes over and disrupts all other good flavors. Hard to describe the flavor beyond too hot and wine barrel. It looks and smells alot better than it tastes.
503 characters
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
2015 Vintage
Pour is viscous, this looks to be a beast. Aroma is pretty amazing as well, dark berries, chocolate, oak, bourbon and you can feel the heat of this beast in the nose. Taste is alot first sip, the barrel dominates and there is forsure a ton of heat on this for a 12.7%. There is a dark red wine bitterness towards the finish that takes over and disrupts all other good flavors. Hard to describe the flavor beyond too hot and wine barrel. It looks and smells alot better than it tastes.
503 characters
4.23/5 rDev -2.3%
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
4.23/5 rDev -2.3%
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
4.27/5 rDev -1.4%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4.5/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
3.06/5 rDev -29.3%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3.25
Bomber to tulip, the appearance pours like motor oil (i.e. jet black pour has that "glub glub" sound to it), about a finger’s worth of foamy slightly tan/almost off white head that dies within about a minute. Barely any lace.
The smell - well, its mostly bourbon, woo-wee, holy crap, boy is that over over powering or what, woo-wee...as it warms, there is some maple and molasses; lil’ bit of oakiness coming through, unsure how well it combines, though its not really combining to me, I do get some roastiness and some major vinousness/wine-ness to it.
The mouthfeel had the overly vinous harsh to sour quality invading not as I had hoped it would.
Overall, would I have this again? Well, not fresh at least, I'll age a bottle of this if I ever get it again.
763 characters
look: 3.5 | smell: 3 | taste: 3 | feel: 2.75 | overall: 3.25
Bomber to tulip, the appearance pours like motor oil (i.e. jet black pour has that "glub glub" sound to it), about a finger’s worth of foamy slightly tan/almost off white head that dies within about a minute. Barely any lace.
The smell - well, its mostly bourbon, woo-wee, holy crap, boy is that over over powering or what, woo-wee...as it warms, there is some maple and molasses; lil’ bit of oakiness coming through, unsure how well it combines, though its not really combining to me, I do get some roastiness and some major vinousness/wine-ness to it.
The mouthfeel had the overly vinous harsh to sour quality invading not as I had hoped it would.
Overall, would I have this again? Well, not fresh at least, I'll age a bottle of this if I ever get it again.
763 characters
4.46/5 rDev +3%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.5/5 rDev +3.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
4.75/5 rDev +9.7%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
4.28/5 rDev -1.2%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
4/5 rDev -7.6%
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Picked up a 22oz at ISO beers, in San Jose. No bottled-on date noticed. Poured into a Glenmorangie whiskey glass at refrigerator temperature.
A - Poured flat with no head and very spotty lacing. The liquid itself is pitch black like an Alaskan wintry night, and mocha tints coating the glass where the liquid has been. Quite a hefty pour too, almost sludgy coming out of the bottle, more like in the Speedway category, than the Marshal Zhukov.
S - Very very subdued smell, likely due to the cold temperature. Should pick up some aromas as the liquid warms up...assuming it stays that long in the glass.
T - Definitely the highpoint of the beer. Very reminiscent of the Abyss, in that there are very prominent red wine characteristics coupled with roasty, chocolatey notes. Drinks much lighter than I anticipated, due to the supressed carbonation that explodes on the palate, bringing forth notes of roast, red wine, oak, bker's chocolate, and a very meaty umami flavor. The coating on the lips and teeth is excellent, and very, very drying. My teeth are almost going numb like I sucked on some sour candy, surprising and very delectable. Maple, and bourbon while boldly advertised on the bottle, are not noticed on the palate,
M - This is a heavy beer that has an amazing drinkability, thanks to the plentiful carbonation that can be felt but not seen. There is an element of subtle tinge of drying cherry-like tartness which aids the drinkability as well. Very well executed.
O - Overall a very well executed beer as an IRS. The lack of bourbon in the aromas or the taste, and the lack of the familiar notes of almonds, vanilla, or coconut leaves me unsatisfied given this was to be a BBA stout
1,696 characters
look: 3.5 | smell: 3.5 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4
Picked up a 22oz at ISO beers, in San Jose. No bottled-on date noticed. Poured into a Glenmorangie whiskey glass at refrigerator temperature.
A - Poured flat with no head and very spotty lacing. The liquid itself is pitch black like an Alaskan wintry night, and mocha tints coating the glass where the liquid has been. Quite a hefty pour too, almost sludgy coming out of the bottle, more like in the Speedway category, than the Marshal Zhukov.
S - Very very subdued smell, likely due to the cold temperature. Should pick up some aromas as the liquid warms up...assuming it stays that long in the glass.
T - Definitely the highpoint of the beer. Very reminiscent of the Abyss, in that there are very prominent red wine characteristics coupled with roasty, chocolatey notes. Drinks much lighter than I anticipated, due to the supressed carbonation that explodes on the palate, bringing forth notes of roast, red wine, oak, bker's chocolate, and a very meaty umami flavor. The coating on the lips and teeth is excellent, and very, very drying. My teeth are almost going numb like I sucked on some sour candy, surprising and very delectable. Maple, and bourbon while boldly advertised on the bottle, are not noticed on the palate,
M - This is a heavy beer that has an amazing drinkability, thanks to the plentiful carbonation that can be felt but not seen. There is an element of subtle tinge of drying cherry-like tartness which aids the drinkability as well. Very well executed.
O - Overall a very well executed beer as an IRS. The lack of bourbon in the aromas or the taste, and the lack of the familiar notes of almonds, vanilla, or coconut leaves me unsatisfied given this was to be a BBA stout
1,696 characters
Berserker Imperial Stout from Midnight Sun Brewing Co.
Beer rating:
4.33 out of
5 with
1,198 ratings
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