Imperial Stout Appreciation Thread (2023)

Same here!

I still have the Original and Coconut Rum. But those aren't flavored with natural and/or artificial extracts. Cashew Turtle and PB & Mallow were too much like DuClaw's For Pete's Sake! (Imperial version of Sweet Baby Jesus!). Honestly, I was expecting something much better from Jack's Abby.

 

went with the stovepipe.

cheers!!

 

If BCBS was 33% thinner and had none of the burnt sugar/sweet bourbon notes, but all of the dark fruits/tobacco. Pretty good, but missing that extra something. I have the double barrel aged version coming. Maybe that’ll do it

 

I was really disappointed I stopped in several liquor stores and couldn't find a single can of Speedway in any of them. Select Beer in Redondo Beach had four packs, but I had four other beers at the hotel already for my final night / morning.

Wanted a Speedway Stout photo on Speedway in Venice on Monday. It was windy as fuck that day and I only stayed briefly anyway on the beach, and would have to walk north with the shitty sand storms (was on Washington in Marina Del Ray), so likely for the best. Glad you guys got your typical weather back after I flew out.

 

Possibly a distribution issue. AleSmith lists Harbor Distribution as its LA/OC distributor.

https://alesmith.com/distribution/

Harbor was sold to Reyes in November 2021, but AleSmith isn't listed a a brewery Reyes' Harbor carries.

https://harbordistributingllc.com/product-catalog

Perhaps they dumped that specific brand to someone else, otherwise Reyes may just be sitting on it and minimizing deliveries / sales if they are allowed by law to sit on / park a brewery like they can in Illinois. Many breweries pass on even limited drops here to avoid being stuck with an onerous contract.

AJ Maka in our area is listed as AleSmith's Distributor on AleSmith's website, but isn't listed on AJ Maka's website. We do get regular drops (either quarterly or a few times a year), including a few variants of Speedway in addition to Speedway, their IPA and .394 Pale Ale.

AleSmith has a beer finder on their website, but not sure how accurate it is. It shows nothing here, but stores in LA.

https://alesmith.com/find-our-beer/

 

Good day BAs! I'll try again today to post in this thread since I felt compelled to delete yesterday's post because the WRONG PHOTO uploaded and the correct one was AWOL.
My New Breakfast Beer today was:



Drip - Coconut from Finback Brewery. 16 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 24/01/23 (Review 3020). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Undated can. Served at 52.1 degrees (as suggested on the can) in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 57.2 degrees.
Appearance – 4.5.
First pour – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), barely transparent.
Body – Black (SRM 40), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear lite, I think I see ruby at the edge but otherwise opaque.
Head – Average (Maximum 2.5 cm, aggressive center pour), golden brown, high density, average retention, dropping to a 1.2 cm crown fed by lots of carbonation, and a complete cap.
Lacing – Wide band of torn curtain lacing above a narrower band with small stalactites and connecting columns to the head. Very nice!
Aroma – 4.25 – Coconut, coffee, and a bit of chocolate. No hops, no yeast, no peanut butter.
Flavor – 4.5 – Mostly coconut and coffee with some roasted malt. No hops, no yeast, no vanilla, no peanut butter. No ethanol (11 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. Mild gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Ends weakly bitter.
Palate – 4.25 – Medium, creamy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 (After deducting 0.25 point for undated personal container) I followed the suggested temperature on the can (52 degrees) rather than the usual temps for imperial stouts (57 - 61). The coconut and coffee really came through for me. No vanilla, but I can rarely detect it unless it’s at a very high concentration. No peanut butter which suits me. Very pleasing palate. How extreme is this beer? Extremely good! Wish I had a case of them!
Rating 4.37, rDev +2.6%


Yesterday's post, for those who saw it before I deleted it:




Eat the Rich (Ghost 1306 but mislabeled as 1228) from Adroit theory. 16 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 23/01/23 (Review 3019). Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Stamped on bottom of can “EAT THE RICH 12/22/22”. Served at 56.8 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature was 60.9 degrees.
Appearance – 4.25.
First pour – Amber Brown (SRM 18), transparent.
Body – Ruby Brown (SRM 24), opaque. Under direct light, same. When rear lite, ruby at the edge but otherwise opaque.
Head – Average (Maximum 3.5 cm, aggressive center pour), brown sugar, high density, average retention, dropping to a 0.5 – 0.7 cm crown fed by lots of carbonation, and a complete cap.
Lacing –None.
Aroma – 3.5 – Roasted malt. Maybe some “dark fruit”. No hops, no yeast.
Flavor – 4 – Roasted malt, very weak prunes, no hops, no yeast. No ethanol (12 % ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. Mild gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Ends weakly bitter.
Palate – 4.25 – Medium, creamy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4.25 The whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Before I smelled/tasted this, I posited the presence of roasted malt, coffee, and some form of chocolate. At least I got the roasted malt right. I wasn’t expecting prunes. Perhaps the flavors are too subtle for my plebian tastes, but overall, this is a good RIS.
Rating 3.97, rDev -5.5%

 

Mikerphone Pick of Destiny Vol. 4

this was awesome. just base imperial stout and barrel. no additives / sugar needed. cheers!!

 

Yep, Reyes is by far the largest distributor in the US with just under $30 billion in revenue across food, beer and other beverages. They distribute 325 million cases of beer annually in the United States.

Just to put that in perspective, AB InBev (all brands) sells 125.6 million cases of beer across North America (106,965 hectoliters / 8.51717 liters per case of beer). So Reyes is 2.6 times larger in the US in beer distribution sales than AB InBev is across all of North America.

Reyes is far more detrimental to craft beer than any other entity in the industry. If your brand is not in the top dozen in their territory, your likely getting poor service with their top brands getting preferential treatment. Reyes parks / sits on other competitors with better product to help their core top national and regional brands:

• White Claw & Truly
• Constellation / Modelo
• Miller Lite & Coors
• Heineken / Lagunitas
• Diageo / Guinness
• Sam Adams & Dogfish Head
• Kirin / Bells, Brooklyn & New Belgium
• A few of their preferred locals / regionals (Revolution & Half Acre in Illinois).

@RaulMondesi also mentions AleSmith is dead in LA/OC. It’s not because their beer dropped off, it’s because their distribution dropped off. You can’t buy a beer if it’s not in the store.

Larry Bell pulled his brand out of Illinois after Reyes bought out his distributor in the 1990s. Bell’s returned a few years later when he was able to go under another distributor. He also did the same in Virginia more recently. However, Bell’s is now back under Reyes in 2022 after the 2021 sale of Bell’s to Kirin (Reyes owns distribution rights to Kirin / New Belgium).

Reyes should never have been allowed to become as large as they have, but there is weak corporate oversight by the DOJ so there have no competition to deal with, craft brewers have no recourse and craft beer buyers are stuck with limited, often shitty options.

 

This was once a local "hype" release a decade ago, but with the plethora of BA offerings this now flies under the radar.

Haymarket Clare's Thirsty Ale



It has always had raspberries added to the base stout and rotating brands of bourbon barrels, but in the right measure as a complement, not overpowering, to the stout and bourbon.

This can is just over two years old, and has held up very well refrigerated. This is one of five locally brewed Imperial Stouts I look forward to annually (Revolution's Deth's Tar/Cafe Deth, BCBS OG Regular Stout, Lagunitas' Willittized and suburban Wild Onion's Drago the other four).

It's held it's own for good reason in the overall Imperial Stout rankings over the years (#57 overall for American Imperial Stouts), and I highly recommend it. It's one of the minority of beers I have a higher personal rating than the average BA score.

 

This is hot (cold?) garbage. At least it wasn’t $100

 

This has enough Ancho, cinnamon,and chocolate
to enhance a solid base beer.
A well done local offering
Cheers all

 

I agree with your assessment!

 

I don’t think it’s in there. Have at it, get some beer karma!