Aussie Imperial Stout Recommendations / US Availability?

IMHO one of the best Australian RIS is the Nail - Clout Stout (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2569/65368/). It's nothing over-the-top or barrel aged or anything, but just perfectly balanced.

Feral - Boris RIS is pretty good (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9139/49716/).

Murray's Wild Thing is also apparently good, but I haven't personally tried it (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/12897/45919/).

Boatrocker - RAMJET is a whiskey-barrel aged stout with reviews saying one of the best that Aus does.(https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/21964/104340/).

If you like licking ash-trays, you should try Moon Dog's Black Lung series of RIS.

also look at 8 Wired, although from NZ, they do a nice stout as well.

 

A couple Victorian RIS' that I enjoy:

Cavalier Imperial Stout - closer to the traditional English approach to imperial stouts, I think this is an underrated beer.

Mornington Peninsula Imperial Stout - Classic American Imperial Stout, has a noticeable hop character without intruding on the rich roasted character, one of my favourites.

 

Riverside brewing company - black peril. Really good aussie imperial stout.

Are you in sydney? There are so many world class stouts from the world available now. Omnipollo has come to Aus recently and is fucking amazing!

 

The local brewers are only now (very few exceptions) starting to release/invest time in to "serious" big Imperial Stouts - BBA etc. I still say the vast majority available at the moment are barely a shadow of what is made overseas; until Aussie consumers desire the expertly crafted big stouts enough to make it worth a brewers time, we're going to get generic junk like Hawkers BBA or any of the awful ~6-7% "Imperial Stouts" that come out every few weeks...

Boatrocker is worth it, as are some vintages of Clout Stout, as is Mornington's Imperial Stout, and as is Mountain Goat's Barrel Breed. Murray's various Wild Things are very inconsistent, but I've loved some in the past.

Honestly, stick with Founders Imperial & Breakfast Stouts, Ten FIDY & Speedway cans, Peche Mortel, Samuel Smiths Oatmeal etcetera until we have something worthwhile.

 

Good comments. I was disappointed with both of Hawker's imperial stouts. The regular version was an obercarbonated mess that did not hit any of the right notes for a stout. The BBA tasted like overboiled brewers wort with a splash of bourbon in it. So disappointing.

The biggest problem with local stouts is no clarity of flavour. The great American and English stouts have separate flavours that progress through the palate while working with each other. Narwhal, Ten Fidy, FIS, Yeti and Speedway all excel at this in their own unique way.

Bad local attempts either taste like a heavy black beer smothered by alcohol and roast or they're too thin and are tasteless.

As Gasc0igne noted there are some exceptions, so hunt these down. In the mean time buy a 4 pack of Narwhal to satisfy your dark cravings. There's usually tons of it shelf turding around. Unbelievable considering the quality of the beer.

 

I was shocked at how bad the recent " beer of show" was at the Perth Royal Beer show,
it was a WBA RIS from Margaret river Brewhouse,
it was horrid, but still got the gong

 

Beautifully put! I can't believe I forgot Narwhal.

In the vein of shelf turds - it's amazing the top quality imports sit on shelves at ~$8-$12/bottle while the local ashy, flat, and singular stouts are popular(?) enough to continue being made at such a high rate.

Just go on Untappd and go through the reviews of many bad Aussie stouts and you'll see that many have almost 4/5 stars....this mindset needs to change before quality will improve.

 

Seems that people are setting the bar for locals too high if only a handful come up to things like Peche Mortel, Narwhal, Ten Fidy, FIS, Yeti and Speedway. They are some of the best regarded fairly easy to get Nth American big stouts. (According to sites such as this - a couple I don't really care for.)

Anyway, Riverside Black Peril in Melbourne I think I've seen at Acland, Otter's Promise, Slowbeer, Blackheart's and Purvis Richmond.

 

The suggestions/comparisons put forward earlier were simply to show what is out there - brews easily accessible and fairly cheap that scream quality. I'm fully aware there are awful imports, but those don't usually stick around long (why go to the effort to bring in something that sells poorly or isn't generally liked?). Comparatively, distribution and longevity of very poor local brews is unbelievably strong - for some reason people are content with essentially static quality.

When I approach a new stout (local or otherwise) I try to carry as few biases in to it as I can. I've always felt that the vast majority I've had in the past have been very lackluster, even when I was starting out I was unimpressed!

It's also fun to take a heavy position in the forums, gets more people out and replying.

P.S. Pretend Brewdog doesn't exist

 

I just bought a couple of aussie imperial stouts. Murrays wild thing vanilla, and colonial stout from WA. Will let you know how they are.

 

Colonial Inquest is pretty badass but it is very English. Lots and lots of dark fruits and little bitterness with it spending 8 weeks in tanks.
The poster commented on how much he loved ten fidy but that is a hop bomb. Then again at this point it should have mellowed nicely over the last few months.
If you can find any of the Rocks Brewing RIS from last year that was excellent. not a fan of any Rocks beers but that was stunning.
From what I have seen in Sydney this year it is either an Imperial stout, or a under 6% stout this year. Not a lot of the 7-8% stouts besides the Pirate Life stout. Go figure.

 

Pick this up if you can find it. Around $37 a can, but its 5.8 standard drinks, and so worth it. Had this a few months ago and was just absolutely blown away with it. Probably the best stout ive ever had.

 

By the way, was anyone else disappointed with pirate lifes stout? I love their ipas but i thought the stout was a big let down. Way too hoppy. Didn't get any chocolatey coffee flavours at all.