Imperial Stout Appreciation Thread (2023)

Quite an appropriate beer considering sht going on. Courtesy of @Resistance88. Very surprised at the heavy cherry flavor. Nice amount of charred barrel wood cutting the tartness and sweetness. Very complex.

 

Good day BAs! Today's New Breakfast Beer is:



Disappointing. Doesn't taste like something from Revolution to me.

Dark Mode from Revolution. 12 oz can. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Received in Beer Advocate Extreme Stout Box 2022 - $158.99 (Including tax and shipping) for the box containing 168 total oz of beer ($ 0.946/oz). Reviewed 25/01/23 (Review 3021). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on bottom of can “FILLED DEC/02/21 20:20:10”. Served at 45.8 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 54.5 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Amber Brown (SRM 18), transparent.
Body – Brown (SRM 20), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear lite, ruby at the bottom edge, xanthic at the top edge, but otherwise opaque.
Head – Average (Maximum 1.7 cm, aggressive center pour), buff, high density, fizzy, no retention, dropping to a partial bubble ring fed by lots of carbonation, and a tiny partial cap.
Lacing – 13.8% ABV – none expected, none found!
Aroma – 3.5 – Bourbon. Maybe some “dark fruit”. No hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4 – Bourbon barrel forward, roasted malt, very weak “dark fruit”, no hops, no yeast. No ethanol (13.8 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. Solid gastric warming heats to a burn. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Any smokiness is too weak for me to detect. Ends weakly sweet.
Palate – 3.75 – Watery, watery, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 Well, this has to be the lowest I’ve ever rated a Revolution brew and the first time I’ve rated one below the average. My primary concern is since it is over a year old, how did Revolution store it prior to sale to BA/Halftime? Reefer or pallet in the room temperature warehouse? The bourbon is present but any other flavors/aromas are problematic for me. Even the oats seem to have failed, the palate having only a slight slipperiness and feeling mostly like water (although my lips end slightly sticky). Still, I’d probably buy a four-pack if I ran across one – hope springs eternal!
Rating 3.86, rDev -10.2%

 

Finally got to try Willetized. Very nice stout.

 

Revolution - Cafe Deth 2022 with proper glassware thanks to @FBarber

kind of can’t get enough of this one lately. cheers!!

 

Solid. Heavy cherry note on this one.

Maybe the best value for a barrel aged stout ever. Incredibly balanced. Would keep a 4 pack of beer this in the fridge at all times if I could.

 

I just purchased a four pack of Dark Mode from the same batch via a sale at the brewery.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...st-beer-haul-2022.664093/page-63#post-7663320

I could have sworn I tried and formally rated this, but I didn't so it is on the slate for New Beer Sunday. I will link my review and summarize in this thread. I will also compare against review notes of Kern River's Milk Stout (Class V) I tried the previous Sunday (same style, though Rev's BA treatment should take some of the sweetness off).

If I recall correctly, I had a sample pour so did not rate, found it sweet, and passed on the fresh four pack.

In terms of Revolution beers in general, I refrigerate all canned beer purchased over the years, and their beer has held up well. I don't recall any significant regressions or issues, and have posted several cellar reviews of 1-3 year old cans in the Cellar Review threads. Of the ones I've tried, their fruit ryewine Mixed Berry Ryeway. had the biggest drop off, and that was over 2 1/2 years.

 

I agree, the Box should have only included recently packaged beers, and for the most part I expect a slight drop off, but not a significant drop off, in refrigerated Rev canned DW beers over 1-2 years. I bought mine from the brewery knowing they were a year + old upfront, and having a significant discount to entice me. Brain and refrigerator said it was stupid since I already have too many beers, but wallet (inflation) and heart said it was smart.

I can't recall an instance were I thought cellaring any canned stout, or just about any bottled stout, improved it, beyond a stout coming out too hot or with adjuncts too strong that would benefit from aging and mellowing out to a more balanced acceptable level. Thankfully, Rev BA beers are near universally released "Good to Go".

I'm a minority, perhaps the only poster in the cellar thread, with the opinion the possible style exceptions to improving a good beer fresh are bottled lambics or saisons. Barleywines may be as well (beyond too hoppy American ones), I'm just not as familiar with that style. Many attest age improves a significant number of beers, including stouts. I contend if they were in fact improved, perhaps they weren't optimal when released. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.

 

i agree with you here. lambic and saisons age the best and while improvement from when fresh is debatable, they at least change significantly in flavor.

people think the main qualifier for aging is high ABV, which is just simply not the case. if it were we’d all be drinking 3 year old DIPAs.

 

Good beers for aging/cellaring are dark and high ABV: Imperial Stouts/Porters, Old Ales, Barleywines, Imperial Brown Ales, Eisbocks, Belgian Dark Strong Ales and Quadrupels.

And also, Flanders Oud Bruins and Flanders Red Ales, Lambics, Saisons and other various wild yeast/mixed fermentation beers.

 

The sounds like a bad batch. I've had lots of good Rasputin cans, but I do like bottles better for all beers, and I've done some side by side with the scrimshaw and didn't notice a difference. And I drink a Lotta scrimshaw at the river in the summer so the cans are nice.

Gordon Biersch is a big, old guard brewery. They had a sort of chain restaurant thing they were affiliated with but it's not the same as the brewery. I'm not sure the restaurant chain even exists anymore but I'm guessing Gordon has a lot of excess capacity these days.

 

Classic red ale. Just had some fresh bottles the other day. It's nice, but I'm not confused why this style has faded in popularity.

Good, modern, west coast ipa. Glad to see them add a modern tasting ipa to their lineup. I'll definitely add it to my rotation.

Negra modelo. Not sure it's even better than modelo. Tastes artificially colored

Good classic American stout. You'll probably hate it. It's more like a porter, but a little sharper.

I haven't tried the Brother Thelonious cans yet, but thats a beer I should revisit more often.

Also, I see bombers of Raspy around still. I should probably grab those more often too.

 

I'm gonna check them next time I'm in that store. I think they're fresh-ish though.

Don't worry stout thread, I'll report on the status of old Rasputin bombers. Boots on the ground. Film at 11

 

Good day BAs! Today's New Breakfast Beer:



Flux from Barclay Brewing. 12 oz can. Stored at 34 degrees at home. Received in Beer Advocate Extreme Stout Box 2022 - $158.99 (Including tax and shipping) for the box containing 168 total oz of beer ($ 0.946/oz). Reviewed 26/01/23 (Review 3022). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on bottom of can “50% BA 50% FRESH 01/03/23”. Served at 56.4 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 60.0 degrees.
Appearance – 4.
First pour – Black (SRM 40), opaque.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear lite, still opaque with light penetration at only the thinnest of edges, ruby.
Head – Average (Maximum one cm, aggressive center pour), brown sugar, high density, no retention, dropping to a 0.2 cm bubble ring fed by spotty carbonation, and a tiny partial cap.
Lacing – Fair! A tight band of nearly microscopic bubbles
Aroma – 4.5 – Roasted malt and chocolate with some bourbon and coffee in the background. No hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4.5 – Roasted malt forward with a delicious bourbon/vanilla aftertaste, no hops, no yeast. No ethanol (13.8 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. Mild gastric warming which just edges into the uncomfortable range. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Ends weakly sweet.
Palate – 4.5 – Full, creamy, soft carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 Excellent impy stout! The bourbon barrel adds a gentle nudge of bourbon, not the harsh assault of many BBA stouts. The nose coffee fails to translate into flavor. The flavors blend well with the residual aromas and the palate supports all the smoothness of flavor and aroma.
Rating 4.42, rDev +2.8%

 

The JW Lees cans that I have had have been very disappointing. I plan on putting that to the test again soon though. I'm a glutton for expensive punishment. I wish I knew the story behind the JW Lees cans, but I can (damn pun unintended) only speculate. It is my guess that B United is not canning these... and that they are being canned in the UK. I wouldn't be surprised if JW Lees transported the beer to a canner or temporarily brought a canner in for it. I also wouldn't be surprised if B United made the specific request for cans for the American market... but I am only speculating.

Regarding price - Back when I drank a large variety of barley wine, the price of Harvest Ale always turned me off and I refused to try it. Things have flipped. Today, I consider it one of my favorite beers... and well worth the $9ish price tag as a rare treat. I also no longer feel much need to experiment with buying other barley wines. The prices that some people seem to be paying for some American barley wines seem very high in comparison.

This isn't the right thread for this conversation, but @Resistance88 appreciates anarchy.

We might have to agree to disagree. You can't ignore the variables. Personally, I would put the differences from brewer to brewer*... or from canning line to canning line as having a higher impact than the differences from bottle to can. Having said that, I believe bottles have some practical positives over cans. Based on brewer's output, it appears that bottles might be superior for fermentation in the package… and better with highly carbonated beer. I wouldn’t trust cans as much as bottles for highly acidic beer. I have yet to hear about a glass bottle falling apart because of acidic beer. Based on personal observations, I get better carbonation results when pouring from a bottle shape.

People always point to air ingress and light with cans as if these things clearly or consistently cause buyers of bottled beer significant problems. Personally, I’d worry more about oxygen at packaging than oxygen ingress under a crown. I’m not a fan of green or clear glass, but I don't avoid brown glass due to light. Be it in a can or brown glass bottle, I store my beer in the dark.

*In my case, I have generally been a fan of North Coast beers based on what I've tried. I have not been a fan of most of the Gordon Biersch brewed beers that I've tried. Two important things to add to that though: 1) I don't recall ever having a Gordon Biersch brewed North Coast brand... and can't comment on those, 2) Some people are certainly fans of specific Gordon Biersch brewed beers.