Imperial Nessie
Brauerei Hofstetten / Krammer

Bottled in dark green glass and shared at Café Beermoth pouring a fairly clear mid brown body with nice off white head. Aroma is wild toffee, flavour is raisins and salt taffy.

750 ml bottle into snifter, no bottle dating. Pours fairly hazy/cloudy deep ruby red/copper color with a 1-2 finger dense and rocky light khaki head with fantastic retention, that reduces to a nice cap that lingers. Nice dense soapy lacing clings on the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Fantastic appearance. Aromas of caramel, brown sugar, raisin, plum, cherry, fig, date, peach, pear, melon, apricot, red apple, brown bread, roasted nuts, wood/peat smoke, leather, tobacco, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of toffee, chocolate, cocoa, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/toast/smokey earthiness. A touch too fruity/yeasty aromas, but not overwhelming. Nice and pleasant aromas with good balance and complexity of dark/bready/smoked/light roasted malts, fruity yeast, and light-moderate earthy hop notes; with solid strength. Taste of big caramel, brown sugar, raisin, plum, cherry, fig, date, peach, pear, melon, apricot, red apple, brown bread, roasted nuts, wood/peat smoke, leather, tobacco, and toasted biscuit; with lighter notes of toffee, chocolate, cocoa, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/toast/smokey earthiness. Light-moderate herbal, floral, woody, grassy, peppery hop; and roast bitterness on the finish. Lingering notes of caramel, brown sugar, dark fruit, peach, pear, melon, apricot, red apple, brown bread, roasted nuts, wood/peat smoke, leather, tobacco, toasted biscuit, toffee, chocolate, cocoa, herbal, floral, grass, pepper, and yeast/toast/smokey earthiness on the finish for a good bit. Great complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/smoked/light roasted malts, fruity yeast, and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; with a great malt/bitterness balance, and no cloying/astringent flavors after the finish. Lightly increasing dryness from lingering hop/roasted bitterness. Medium carbonation and medium-full body; with a very smooth, moderately creamy/bready/grainy, fairly sticky, and lightly chalky mouthfeel that is great. Minimal warming alcohol for 8.7%. Overall this is a delicious Scotch ale. All around nice complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready/smoked/light roasted malts, fruity yeast, and light-moderate earthy hop flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to drink for the big ABV, with the mellowly bitter/drying finish. Great balance of nicely rich malts and fruity yeast complexity; with nice earthy hop presence/balance against sweetness. A very enjoyable offering, and impressively well made style example. A lot of great well rounded complexities, got better as it warmed up. Not overly smokey.

Doesn't look like a wee heavy - more like a dubbel or suspect red ale. Loads of smoke, like a rauchbier. Peat? If they say so. Maybe in the smell. Hop oil in the aftertaste, but not in an enjoyable way. Thinner body than you'd expect from the style or the other descriptors going on.

Dark amber, murky color with beige head. Aroma has some sweet malts but not much else. Taste has some sweetness, smoked malts but also an off putting note. There is something wrong about this beer. Too bad because it also has some good parts.