Black Belle Imperial Stout
Blackstone Brewing Company

 

 

I have this every year it comes out, and it is consistently great. Arguably the best beer made in Nashville on a regular basis.

Pitch black and medium viscosity on the pour and in the glass. Minimal mocha head, but what's there is very creamy looking and provides some nice lacing down the glass. Plenty of alcohol legs from the swirl of the glass.

Aromas are absolutely fantastic. Dark fruits, dried fruits, dark chocolate, light espresso, tobacco, barrel char, coconut, molasses, big caramel and toffee, huge nuttiness -- roasted pecans and walnuts -- and gooey fudge. Smells sweet, but not as decadent as a lot of big BA dessert stouts. There’s certainly plenty of alluring sweetness, but it doesn’t come off as confectionary or adjunct-centered. Much more barrel character and chocolate-dominated stout than roast or bitterness. I absolutely love it. It's perhaps not BCBS level good, but it's not very far off.

Taste follows initially -- huge notes of fig, raisin, and plum, chocolate-covered cherry, dark cocoa nibs, medium-roast coffee, chocolate malts, toffee, rye, red wine tannins, mild coconut, a little black licorice, and some bitter hops -- but it drops off really, really quickly. Shame, because the layers and complexity is there, and you'd love to roll this one around in your mouth and take in wave after wave of different flavors that sync perfectly with the aroma notes. But the drop off to roasted malts, semi-sweet chocolate, dark berries, and a little lasting hop and coffee bitterness is abrupt. Still, I love the consistency between nose and tongue.

Feel is an interesting mix of soft and silky and what initially feels thin, but coats and sticks like a much thicker, chewier beer. Honestly a really nice combination that makes this dangerously drinkable while you're still aware that this is a big beer (though there's almost zero boozy heat).

Kudos to Blackstone for an outstanding beer that is consistently exceptional. I will happily buy a bunch of bottles every year (regular and variants), both to support a pillar of the local Nashville beer scene but mostly because it's an outstanding beer.

 

Bottle poured into glass

Motor oil , no foam cap

Bourbon aroma, chocolate, roast malts

Bourbon taste, roast malts

No sudsing , syrupy ,

Good beer

 

Has all the flavors listed on bottle but not balanced imo .. I want to like it but there are do many others that are better imo , especially for the price...

This was a 2018 bottle btw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm trying this at the brewery. It poured an opaque dark with no head and no lace. The scent was bourbon galore. The taste was a nice combo of molasses and bourbon. The mouthfeel is fuller in body with subtle carbonation. Overall this is a big beer and is great for sipping on cold Nashville nights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bomber into a snifter appears black in color with a khaki head that fades leaving spotty lace.

The aroma is earthy with anise and a bit of a solvent kick.

It tastes spicy almost like incense with a dry oak character blending to anise and almost a fruity raison aspect.

This is medium in body with modest carbonation.

 

 

Big thanks to Buck89 for yet another delicious treat

A wisp of thin bubbly tan foam appears momentarily, but this dark black, thick looking beer gets a bare cap very quickly.

Enticing med. strength aroma featuring dark chocolate, cocoa, bourbon, dark bready sweet, hints of oaky tannins, in a well balanced mix that provokes saliva squirts to occur in my mouth.

Wow sweet chocolate goodness followed by warming alcohol spice, bourbon, dark caramel, and gradual morph into sip's end that contains roasty goodness that is bitter chocolate meets expresso coffee meets oaky tannin.

This falls at the low end of carbonation for style, not quite still, but the lack of any carbonic notes lends this med. bodied beer a nice creaminess it otherwise might not achieve, and offers a cleaner finish.

I like very low carbonation beers, especially big stouts that are so, and I recommend this for folks who like really tasty stouts that have only a bit of spritz. Recommended for being so dang tasty and stupid drinkable for a big stout.

2014 bottling

Appearance: Pours out with an espresso color, the head not particularly impressive as the bubbles fritter away rather quickly; spotty lacing fades

Smell: Chocolate, caramel and Bourbon tones; dark fruit and oak

Taste: Chocolate and caramel forward, with prune and date tones building; through the middle, the Bourbon and the oak move to add complexity; oaky and a little boozy, in the finish

Mouthfeel: Medium to full body with low carbonation

Overall: A compelling aroma and an enticing flavor profile; the only thing missing is a big body and a little more carbonation (although that might have been better when the beer was younger)

 

 

 

 

Had this bottle in the fridge for a while... It spoke to me this evening so here we go...

Big, boozy, brash...lots of bourbon and it ain't subtle... Not necessarily boozy, mind you, but the bourbon seems to dominate early... Getting some nuttiness here as well... That bourbon though... A bit thin but not distractingly so...

Terrific sipper... Couple of glasses is enough. This would stand up nicely to a big cigar...