Scratch Beer 83 - 2012 (¿Impending Descent?)
Tröegs Brewing Company

Update: in addition to original review, drank an original 2012 bottle on Aug 8, 2020. Taste is as flavorful as ever. Maybe a bit thinner mouthfeel. Wish I had more original 2012 bottles.

Pours a deep dark black body with little to no head forming or even showing up at all.
Smells of coffee, vanilla, deep roasted malts.
Taste is delicious! Plenty of bittersweet chocolate, coffee and oak with a bitter citrus-hoppy finish and some lingering oak.
Big mouthfeel typical of a RIS, but at 9.8% not a lot of that alcohol burn you can get with some other RIS's with a higher abv. Definitely a sipper but not so much that you can't get it down and move on to another beer for the night.
Overall a great beer from Troegs, one which I am glad they brought back since I missed the original release. I find this easy to drink and very balanced between a dark roasted stout and the hoppy finish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A - Pours pitch black with a moderate sized toffee lacing ring around the top.

S - Dark chocolate malt, char, light smokiness, a hint of coffee bean Espresso.

T - Char, dark roasted chocolate malt, smoky, very small amount of dark fruit, dark cocoa, and a lingering smoke dark chocolate bitterness.

M - Thick and full bodied, slippery, moderate lingering bitterness and no detectable alcohol.

O - I hope this one makes it to the rotation of Troegs beers, this is a winner.

Appearance: pours a deep brown almost black color. 2-3 finger tan head with good retention and leaves behind a slight lacing. completely opaque and dark

Smell: roasted malts, chocolate, espresso. dark fruits. almost smoky

Taste: opens with roasted malts, the bitterness mixes with a little bit of dark fruit sweetness. some espresso and chocolate. some age is showing in slight cherry to sherry like flavors. alcohol still has some prominence

Mouthfeel: fairly light and easy drinking. bitterness is high from the roast. some warmth but not a ton.

Overall: no clue what this tasted like fresh but it taste pretty darn good now. showing signs of good age along with signs of a good stout. A great tasting beer I was extra'd, I would certainly take more.

There's something about the smell of this beer that is distinctly reminiscent of scotch whiskey, like smoked peat. Pretty cool.

The taste is also kind of smokey, roasty and bitter/acidic, like it was aged in scotch whiskey barrels. Not very sweet for a stout of its size, actually nice and dry and roasty. Again, there's a very interesting smokey, scotch element.

Overall, a nice, unique take on an imperial stout. Not too sweet or roasty -- a good balance without the addition of adjuncts like coffee or chocolate.