25th Anniversary
Left Hand Brewing Company

Bottle pulled from my cellar and poured into a Bell's Brewery snifter

A: Pours basically black with a frothy cocoa powder brown head that settles to a thin layer and leaves a little spotty lacing.

S: Roasty, strong coffee, dark chocolate, and a little char, a bit earthy, and toffee sweetness.

T: Wonderfully roasty, coffee, dark bittersweet chocolate, and a touch of char, a little earthy, faint hints of dark fruit, and some toffee sweetness.

M: Full body, somewhat mild carbonation, creamy smooth, that 12% is totally hidden.

O: This has aged beautifully! Roasty and robust, yet dangerously easy drinking for its size. Shows that you don't need a whole cupboard of adjuncts to make a good imperial stout. Cheers to 25 (now 30) years!

 

 

 

The beer pours a nice khaki brown colored creamy head that dissipates at a moderate pace. The beer itself is a dark chocolate brown that looks delicious.

The smell is good. IT has a nice roasted malt smell with a smattering of bitter chocolate and coffee alongside a creamy oat as well.

The taste is also good. It has the same roasted malt notes of a bitter chocolate and hints of coffee alongside a slightly tart and sweet cherry note. There is also a creamy oat note in the finish.]

The feel is good. It has a medium plus body to it but has a good creamy texture to it. It has a soft carbonation to it and is surprisingly drinkable. It has a slightly dry finish to it.

Overall, a pretty good beer worth trying if you can find it somewhere. The notes are unique and interesting enough to make this a worth anniversary beer.

12 oz bottle cellared until March 2020,then served in a Belgian snifter.
Pours near black with a decent beige head.
Sweet, lightly boozy aroma. The high ABV is partially hidden in the flavor but beget hidden in the creamy, full bodied mouthfeel. Mainstream but unusually harmonious version of the style.
Overall: an exceptional stout suitable for the 25th anniversary of a fine brewery.

Pours a viscous black with a finger plus light brown head on draft that leaves thin streaks of lace as it slowly settles. 4.5

Smell dark chocolate, roasty coffee, vanilla bean, and just a hint of dark cherries really nice. 4.5

Taste follows black strong coffee, deep dark chocolate, vanilla, and just a hint of cherries. 4.5

Mouthfeel is bigger than medium, gentle creamy carbonation, maybe a tad dry but not for the style, and at 12.1% ABV extremely approachable. 4.75

Overall this is an amazing stout and I want to sip this on a cold and snowy winters evening, but I will take a cool evening I March and run with it. Excellent Stout..... 4.5

 

 

 

Malty and boozy. Full bodied. Not a ton of complexity but still a solid imperial stout.

Poured into a Fremont small snifter. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque in the glass with a thin dark khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cocoa and mild cherry and caramel. Flavor is dark toasted malt with mild char, milk and dark chocolate, light molasses and coffee, a hint of cherry. A little more char shows up in a full, chocolatey finish. Medium bodied with light creaminess. A full bodied, rich stout that has a lot of Russian imperial stout character. Great chocolate and emphatic malt. Excellent flavor from start to finish and a quite worthy 25th anniversary beer. I like this brewery and am usually more pleased than I expect with a new beer from them.

This one is dark dark deep dark brown disguised as black. Ruby hints around the edges with the lightest tan head. Head retention is abysmal and lacing is spotty. Aroma is bitter hops dominating (I think I’m very sensitive to this in big stouts because they always jump out at me) followed by bitter chocolate and maybe the slightest hint of coffee, ok now I’m reaching, maybe. The taste follows hops up front (they fade a bit after it warms) bitter chocolate, some fading coffee (bigger presence when warm), and some dark fruits which I find very pleasant. Feel is medium, could be more full and I wouldn’t be mad. Overall this is a good beer but with the anniversary label you just expect more.

 

 

Poured a black body with minimal head and lace. The aroma is boozy with notes of chocolate and dark fruits (mostly black cherry). Fuller, thicker body, slow sipper, has a chocolate sweetness with hints of dark fruits and then finishes with some booziness; beer has good balance and is worth trying.

Wonderful stout, with dark chocolate, cherries and coffee flavors. Amazing to get the warming 12.1% ABV without barrel-aging. Great value and aging up to 2025 is possible. Grab it while you can.