Imperial Stout
Fuller's

 

500 ml bottle in cardboard box, as Fuller’s Bottle Conditioned Imperial Stout Limited Edition. ABV is 10.7%. From the Fuller’s Brewery store, also available at Cardinal Pub & Bar, Stavanger. Pitch black colour, moderate tan head. Lovely aroma, roasty and floral notes, hints of coffee, chocolate, leather and rosebuds. Distinctly roasty flavour, notes of strong coffee, dark chocolate and liquorice, floral notes in the background. Decent hops (Centennial).

 

Lovely. Dark black beer with a brown head. Smells of roasted malts, chocolate and cherry. I am reminded of Turkish Delight as is mentioned on the label. Tastes of chocolate, cherry, plums. Oily on the tongue. Superb hop bitterness to finish the initial sweet cherry flavours. Almost 11% but the alcohol is well hidden. A gem.

 

Opacity: Deep opaque.
Color: Deep black.
Head: Creamy and bubbly brown 2 fingers.
Legs: Poor but strong lacing.
Smell: Burned coffee beans/Smoke/Wood/Plums.
Taste: Dark chocolate/Roasted barley and oatmeal/Prunes/Vanilla/Herbal.
Feel: Roasted/Earthy/Spicy/Dark esters/Barrel aged.
Body: Medium silky and creamy, superb roundness and smoothness.
Carbonation: Light soft crisp, just the right feel.
Overall: Low alcohol feel, just a bit in the smell. Slightly chalky and dry. Excellent aging process. Real easy to drink yet still bold and quite warming. Superb quality Imperial stout, impressive classic representation of the style.

Visual 7/10 - Flavors 9/10 - Sensations 9.5/10 - Balance 9.5/10 -
Freshness 4/10 - Intensity 7.5/10 - Complexity 9.5/10 - Appreciation 9.5/10

I'm beginning to feel rather cynical about all these 'special' beers, esp. how they're branded, packaged, and marketed around Christmas. £6 a pint in a pretty box? £8 (this one), £what will you spend - they'll test it a la Diageo's Johnnie Walker Red > Black > Double-Black > Green > Gold > Blue labels. Where next?
L- Inky black, glints of deep ruby through the corner of the glass when held up to a light. Pours with thin fine-bubble tan head.
S- Toasty, smokey, high ABV%
T- Pungent, oily, smokey, bonfires, then all of those again. Like something pumped out of an old car engine; in a good way, mostly.
F- Thick and heavy intense flavour and feel, I can't see anyone rushing this one.
O- Like a big smokey malt whisky you perhaps need to be well into black beer and deep/heavy variants to get this one. Interesting to try but a bit of a bludgeoning experience on both the wallet and taste-buds.
500ml bottle. BB: 31/12/2029. £8 from a Waitrose in London.

Edit to add: 13/Nov/2020 - I see that this week this beer has been restocked in our local Waitrose, same price. I suspect it's a seasonal beer pitched as an Xmas gift.

500 mL bottle-in-a-carton purchased at the LCBO long ago. A prime candidate for the oldest bottle in the cellar: it's at least 5 years old, but also bottle-conditioned and 'Best Before 2023', so I'm sure it's in fine shape. Served barely chilled.

Pours totally black, with a deliberately aggressive pour producing one finger of soapy, beige-coloured head that doesn't stick around for more than a few minutes. A bubbly collar of froth and a patchy, filmy cap live on, with minimal lace flung about in the process; looks as expected for the style. Lots of roasted malts on the nose - I'm getting coffee grounds and dark chocolate, with tobacco, leather, earthiness, flowery hops and an herbal anise note, as well as a fair bit of raisin and fig fruitiness. Moderately boozy, but nothing out of the ordinary for nearly 11%.

An exquisite beer: mellow yet intense, rich yet somehow balanced in nearly every respect. Brownie, dark chocolate, molasses and espresso coffee hit the taste buds immediately, with delectable dark fruit flavours of fig, raisin and cherry carried closely in tow. Earthy and herbal towards the back end, with anise, floral hops, vanilla and coffee grounds preceding a warming, roasty aftertaste with suggestions of burnt grains and Turkish delight. Full-bodied, with minimal carbonation and a silky-smooth, slick mouthfeel that allows this beer to slide down the gullet with ease. One of those beers that makes me feel bad for not splitting it with someone... sure, I can finish it off, but a half litre is more than I need.

Final Grade: 4.44, an A grade. I've been clearing out my cellar recently, which means that I have also been reviewing some pretty darn good stouts - for example, this here bottle of Fuller's Imperial Stout, which might well be the best thing I've pulled out of there so far. A fantastic, must-try stout that I emphatically recommend to all BAs; exactly what I'd expect from my favourite English brewer. I'd like to try it fresh at least once, but my gut feels as if this is a beast which benefits from some time being tamed. I can only thank my lucky stars that this seems to come back to Ontario on a yearly basis.

 

 

Bottle: Poured a pitch-black color ale with a large dark brown foamy head with good retention and some lacing. Aroma of black chocolate notes with light dry roasted malt notes is quite enticing. Taste is nice mix of black chocolate notes, dry roasted malt notes, and subtle residual sugar notes with some nice cocoa notes. Body is full with nice texture and good carbonation with no real apparent alcohol notes. Enjoyable and I enjoyed the balance level of residual sugar.

 

From Hopt. In Teku glass. Playing Avernum 2. Superbly balanced,with delicious roasty notes, raisins, some minerality and a complete smoothness that makes it very drinkable in spite its abv

L: Drank from bottle but appears to be jet black.

S: Raisins, alcohol. Very light aroma.

T: Raisins, wine, alcohol, oats, super smooth.

F: Smooth and silky, yet full bodied. Out of this world.

O: This is a world class beer.

 

Seems like drinking history in a glass. Nowhere but near the American vision of the style, this Imperial Russian Stout brings elegance to the table. The yeast presence reminds you this is clearly a Fuller's beer. The big malt roasted notes of the American ones are replaced by more subtle cocoa and licorice notes. The hops bring balance with floral and spicy notes. Rose buds addition is very subtle to not really present.
Very drinkable despite the abv. A nice beer

2017-09-01
500ml bottle served in a tulip. Best Before end of 2024. Bought at the Hung, Drawn, and Quartered in London and brought home in my suitcase.

Pours black with a medium to small head and a fair amount of fine, small carbonation. Smell is chocolate and anise, rich and nice.

Taste is bittersweet and strong, rich anise and coffee. Lots of coffee after the second sip.

Mouthfeel is thick and rich. Overall, this is a quite tasty beer.

 

Black as night, low carbonation but nice lacing. Nothing much on the nose. Chocolate and lots of dark cherry with a touch of bitterness in the finish nicely masked by the cherry. Smooth and velvety but still a nice kick of booze after a couple of years.