Imperial Stout 1850
Brouwerij Kees

Great beer! A lot of stouts get too sweet for me but this is a perfect balance imo .

11.2oz bottle poured into a tulip glass at fridge temp 12.4% ABV. The beer pours pitch black with minimal tan head. The head recedes to a thin ring and leaves no lacing. The aroma is dark roasted malt with ashy dark chocolate notes. The taste is bittersweet dark chocolate and deep roasted coffee-like malt. Moderate roasty bitterness throughout. The mouthfeel is medium plus bodied with average carbonation and a somewhat dry finish. Sticky, yet not sweet. No trace of alcohol in the taste or aroma. Overall, excellent.

 

The smell and feel this beer are awesome! The taste? I like it but the feel and smell are a bit higher. Over all, this beer is awesome, really awesome. I like it and I’ll definitely go out if my way to find this beer.

 

 

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing nearly opaque black in the glass with a thin brown head that dissipates to patches with slight lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt with some dark biscuit, dry caramel, cocoa, molasses and a little vanilla. Flavor is semi-sweet dark toasted and biscuit malt with light char, milk chocolate, dry caramel, mild nuts and vanilla. Chocolate and malt finish. Medium bodied with light to moderate creaminess. A rich and flavorful stout well in the RIS mold. The malt has more biscuity character than expected, almost like a big imperial foreign stout, making the malt base a bit more complex than most in the style. Good chocolate. The caramel notes are quite nice. I'm a fan of Kees and expected a great stout; my expectations were met. Nicely done.

 

 

Picked up on a discount shelf, so prob a bit of age, best before 09/22 on the cap, so can't be too old. Love that they put the ingredients on the label

Pours a smaller darker colored fizzy head with lower retention, fair lacing, nice legs, inky black beer

Nose nice and complex, very roasty out front, roasted barley, charred malts, almost scotched level but not quite burnt, roasted coffee and a hint of dark chocolate, with some baking spices and light anise, with a bit of dark fruit buried in the back somewhere, smooth mellow alcohol, a little soft nougat

Taste starts rich again, thick roasted barley and charred malts again but again not burnt, thick almost oily with how heavy the dark malts are, some nougat and fluffy almost burnt marshmallow with some sweetness, but not really caramel like although maybe a little burnt creme brulee, more baking spices with a medium to lighter anise flavor, chalky like powdered cocoa, and a flash of dark fruits way in the background, smooth alcohol also in the background, with a medium bitterness mixed between hop derived spicy bitterness and charred malt bitterness, more roasted coffee in the back as it finishes a bit on the sweeter side, a bit sticky, medium to higher bitterness as more spicy hop notes kick in and lingering roasty dark malts and a bit of super dark dark chocolate

Mouth is fuller bod, chewy and thick, oily, with low alcohol warmth hidden quite well, and medium to lower carbonation but on for the style

Overall a nice representation of the style, a bit heavy on the super dark malts maybe but all the other points were on for the style, hops weren't too aggressive, malts were pretty good although maybe a bit too dark and roasty, touches of dark fruits and some nice spices, alcohol was hidden very well also so that was a plus

 

 

 

 

Moderate pour yields a one inch tan head over a near black body with lacing. Nose of chocolate, dark fruit, and dark malt. Taste mirrors nose with milk chocolate flavor nicely giving way to bitter chocolate at the finish. Smooth. Real nice mouthfeel and overall, a new one (to me) to enjoy again. Cheers!

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color stout with a large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of roasted malt with some rich smooth black chocolate notes is quite enticing. Taste is a mix of sweet rich black chocolate notes with some light roasted malt with some residual sugar notes also perceptible. Body is full with nice rich creamy texture and good carbonation with no apparent alcohol notes. This is a world-class example of the style.

Aroma is dark malts, slight earthiness and big dark chocolate. The flavor is dark chocolate, dark malts, mild dark fruit and a slightly burnt malt/dark chocolate finish.

Deep dark liquid comes out of the bottle, with a very shy brown head because I tried hard to get one, when rested there is only a brown ring around the glass.
Only with the nose you know this will be good, eyes going big and you can't really stop smelling it! Waves of chocolate, caramel, coffee, hints of vanilla and a nutty hazelnut flavor, a bit boozy.
Taste is medium sweetness, light acidity coming from coffee, medium bitterness at the end coming from the roasted malt and the coffee.
A pretty nice body wrapping every part of your mouth, light effervescence, warmth going down in throat, long aftertaste. The kind of Russian Imperial you imperatively want to drink and it doesn't need aging!
This is gold!

First off, most of my Imperial Stouts come in larger bottles so it is nice to be able to enjoy a smaller portion when the rest of the tribe is not into darker beers. I liked the smooth velvety mouthfeel with chocolate overtones. There is booze and malt in the background. From the first sip, I knew that this was a winner.

Jet black body topped with a dense, creamy, light tan head. Heady aroma of mocha and caramel, charred grains with hints of vanilla. Big caramel and cocoa flavors; baker's chocolate; a note of alcohol near the finish. Heavy, dense, chewy mouthfeel; soft sweetness with a drying, boozy edge at the finish.

This is the way I like my big dark beers! It is well-rounded, with a layered complexity of sensual delights throughout. An absolute pleasure...