Bert Grant's Imperial Stout
Yakima Brewing Co. / Bert Grant's Ales

Bottle Inspection: Looks strangely like a Michelob Celebrate bottle, but that’s another story.

Aroma: Chocolate and Hops had an affair and Alcohol was their love child.

Appearance: Opaque blackness with a dark tan collar that left spots of lace on my New Belgium goblet. Beer’s got legs!

Flavor: Heavy wood, almost tannin front mellows into a boozy dark semi-sweet chocolate followed by a firm, bitter hop spike. As it warms, hops become a bit grassy and tea like, but all the flavors start to blend a bit better.

Mouthfeel: Body is very light given the full flavor, carbonation is medium-low, and the texture is a bit oily which leaves a long bittering finish that makes me pucker a bit.

Overall Impression: Enjoyable. A definite sipper that would fit the bill after a large meal or a long evening by the fireplace.
Thanks to Pegasus for the above and beyond sample.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appearance: Deep black in color, with a massive tan head, superb lacing leaves tide marks in the glass walls. The head retains absolutely superbly.

Aroma: Deep, rich bitter chocolate aroma, absolutely incredible, the richest chocolate aroma that I have ever experienced.

Taste: Opens with rich bitter chocolate and espresso, as the taste progresses, the espresso notes are ascendant with a sharp herbal hop bitterness midway through, earth and smoke notes dominate the taste at the close, and with the hops, linger on and on. The alcohol is really only noticable in the warming character of the beer.

Mouth feel: Smooth, rich, incredibly full, velvety.

Drinkability/notes: Utterly superb, the best imperial stout I have ever had, bar none. More's the pity that Bert Grant's has closed.

Presentation: Packaged in a standard twenty-two ounce brown glass bomber with a plain gold pop-off crown, served in a standard pint tap glass.

Served in an oversize snifter at cellar temperature, in the peace and quiet of my office alongside a hunk of Chimay cheese... ooooh, smelly!

Freshness date? Yah, we're talking about an Impy stout here...

Appearance- Liquid dark chocolate... it pours a rich and dense brown without looking too heavy... seriously like liquid Hershey bars. The one finger head barely survives thirty seconds and vanishes to a spotty, disorganized layer of thin confusion.

Smell- Loads, barrels, palettes, an absolutely retarded amount of chocolate must have been dumped into this beer for it to smell like this. By far the most concentrated, easily rivaling Rogue Chocolate Stout for being superchocolatey. Yakima Valley's big hops come through clearly in the aroma, and offset the sweetness about as good as I've ever seen.

Taste- A roasty, even burnt character begins the gustatory evolution of flavor... again, chocolate takes over and carries you through the middle, where blackstrap molasses begin to show some presence. This is where the bus stops and the hops get on. A wonderful drying bitterness follows, whetting the palate for another go.

Mouthfeel/Drinkability- Absolutely fantastic mouthfeel... the mild carbonation expands and billows perfectly, sort of like an oral beer pillow. Yes, I proclaim.... an Oral Beer Pillow. You down wit OBP?

I give this beer high regards for its drinkability, as it is not often we find an extremely full flavored Russian Imperial Stout that doesn't wreck you with its ABV... I would definitely revisit this again, as the big points come where they really count. Nice.

12 ounce bottle poured into a Brooklyn snifter.

A - Pours out as black as india ink with a nice little tan head. A good look for a stout.

S - A nice sweet aroma with a lot of chocolate present. A bit of a smoked smell in there. ALmost like a scotch ale or smoked porter.

T - A nice sweet taste on the initial sip followed by some great coffee notes. Hops come through a little bit in the end and give it a great balanced flavor.

M - Very thick and milky in the mouth. A nice sipper.

D - Sefinitely a good RIS. I;ve never had one with such a low ABV before so I thought the taste might not be there but it's stilla a very complex and inviting brew. Very nice overall.

This Imperial Stout was very black, and poured with one of the darkest colored foam heads I've ever seen. The head was also short and dissipated fast. The smell seems faint, but I detect some toasty chocolate and coffee flavors. It's hard to decipher much from the taste of the malt. The initial flavor is toasty, but weak and doesn't give much complexity. Some solid bitterness does come through later on in the finish. The beer seems slightly thin compared to many top Imperial Stouts, and I noticed the alcohol seems a bit low for this style. It's a decent beer overall, but being a Russian Imperial Stout I came out expecting much more and was a little let down.

Appearance: deep black in color with a one inch tan head. The head lasted a short time. Decent lacing develop through the drink.

Smell: the nose barely picked up mild roasted coffee and soft bitter chocolate.

Taste: roasted malts, weak coffee, bitter chocolate, and hints of alcohol. Medium bodied, slightly thinner and a touch sweeter than other imperial stouts.

Mouthfeel: smooth at the start. The finish is also smooth with a short roasted malt and chocolate aftertaste.

Drinkability: not bad, but I would have liked to have a stronger malt backbone to this.

Pours out a deep, dark black with a good-sized tan head of medium-sized bubbles that leaves a nice little lace.

Smell is burnt molasses, roasted malt, coffee, a little bit of chocolate, alcohol, and some earthy notes.

Taste is fairly sweet, but the roasty bitterness of the flavor gradually comes out as it warms. Slight coffee and chocolate flavors, a large earthy presence, and hints of vanilla fill out the taste, which is okay, but not great.

Mouthfeel is creamy/medium.

Overall: Decent enough, and a good price at four bucks a bomber, but not quite there; the flavors just don't meld together well enough.

I bought a bottle at my local Bevmo.

Ap - This poured a very deep coffee color with a cappucino brown head. You couldnt see thru the glass... looks like my kind of stout.
Sm - A tasty aroma of roastiness bordering a coffee and toffee. It actually makes you salivate.
Tst - No no no, the aroma told me I was to taste something really good. There were hints of chocolate and roasted malt but there was a metallic tint that was just too pervasive. It took away from my whole experience.
Mth - a good balance of carbonation, but it was rather light bodied. Not what i'd expect from an Imperial Stout, but not bad.
Dnk - This one isnt for me. Overall, too light from what i'd expect from an imperial stout and the taste didnt agree with me. I think they forgot this was an imperial stout.

A - Black as night with no head a a touch of lace.

S - Mainly coffee, with chocolate, malts and alcohol in the undertone.

T - Lots of coffee up front, and very, very sweet chocolate and malts with a little alcohol at the end. A nice taste if you like a sweet stout.

M - Pretty thin for an Imperial Stout, rolls down the gullet pretty easy.

D - Higher than an average Imperial Stout, because well, it's weaker in both taste and ABV, could be a gtood or bad thing depending on how you look at it.

Pours an inky black through which no light can penetrate. Chestnut brown head that dissipates quickly.

Smell is chocolate and coffee and some tartness. Mild fruitiness under the stronger scents.

Taste is sharp bitterness and strong roasted malt flavor in the first taste. Fruity and a little sweet after the first shock but the dominant roasted malt flavor never disappears and there is a lasting bitter after taste. Chocolate makes a brief appearance after a while. Too much roasted flavor to allow much else through, like a pasta sauce with too much garlic.

Mouthfeel is thick.

An OK beer but not really to my liking. Less roasted flavor and more subtle flavors would have been nice. I would however choose this over Guinness.

Pitch black, can not see a hue or carb action, and the brown fizzy head dissipated to nothing within seconds.

The smell has some milk chocolate and roasted molasses malt with a citrus hops aroma.

Heavy sweet/bitter, coffee, milk chocolate, and molasses malt taste with a pine and grapefruit hops flavor.

Medium bodied, watery and slightly creamy texture, soft drink carbonation, and a strange metallic and astringent finish.

This drink swirls around like they made an Imperial Stout soft drink (cola), appears cheap, and as one can predict "... this is going down the drain...".

Appearance: Pours a silent coffee looking black color with no head though I poured it very aggressively.

Aroma: It even smells a bit like coffee. There is definitely a deep chocolate mocha or something going on in the aroma. There is a tad of sherry here also.

Taste: Dry, well attenuated rich flavor with a metallic note. There are plenty of Chocolate grains in here as well as a bit of roast. The profile starts out pretty sweet and ends wet with a bit of slick roastiness in the back of the throat instead of the usual warming that you get with most imperial stouts. The body is light too for the style.

Opinion: Well, this is an OK beer. I would take it over a lot of other commercial beers, but this one is pretty light for an imperial in just about all aspects. I think that it would do better as an Export stout like Guinness bottles. It is pretty good, but not one that I would seek out.

This beer is black, almost impenetrable to light. The head is brown and laces very little.

Smell is malty and contains coffee and chocolate.

The flavor hits you with coffee then chocolate and finishes with a mild alcohol taste.

The mouth feel is on the light end of the medium bodied spectrum and is carbonated just right (quite noticeable, but not over done).

Very drinkable for an Imperial, then again it is only 6% ABV which is fine by me. This one is defiantly worth a try, an easy going version of an imperial beer.

Pours pitch black, like motor oil, with a frothy dark brown head. Aroma of rich, creamy chocolate and roasted coffee. Some dark fruit and some smokiness. Very good tasting stout, except for a bit too much sourness. Otherwise, extremely enjoyable. Body lacked some depth as it was more like a porter to me. But overall, I enjoyed it very much.