Jester King Brewery's Black Metal Imperial Stout

Alright, this is what made me think of posting again. I recently had this beer at lunch in a pretty nice restaurant in Houston, and thought I should start putting things down here again. I remember when this brewery just announced that it was opening, and I thought it was a stupid name. Still do. Like someone couldn't let go of the Renaissance Festival or something. Then I looked up the website, and their artwork is the same. A mix of Renaissance Fair and goth, with a little steam punk thrown in on one logo. Whatever it is, I don't like it.

But this is a damn good beer. And who am I to criticize someone else's work and creativity, anyway. Especially when they're doing it right where it counts.

This one pours an inky black with a thin, dark tan head head. Very low carbonation, which I think is just fine in this style.

Great smell. Deep roasted and coffee flavors. Website says "aggressive bitterness," but at 60 IBU the bitterness isn't so aggressive in a RIS. That's OK too, I hate Victory beers and overly hopped styles remind me of them. This one is just right though. Despite the 10.4% ABV, the alcohol is virtually imperceptible. Perfect.

Excellent beer. I hope it makes it to Spec's soon, because it will compete with any RIS out there. Maybe they can ramp up production and distribute more widely so I can try the rest.

Or maybe I'll have to make a beer trip to Austin.

Samuel Smith's Russian Imperial Stout

When it comes to solid beers from a solid brewery, Sam Smith is damn near unbeatable. Some of my favorites like Great Divide, Anchor, and others are good, but none really have such an impressive line up of beers that are just the way they should be.

This one pours slow and black with a deep reddish-tan cascading head that stays.

Substantial bready smell. Not overly-roasted, or overly hoppy. It's not a beer that is intended to be in your face like many American RIS's, and that's OK for them because I like many of them. It's just solid. It doesn't have an enormous ABV, because it focuses on taste more than alcohol. I wish more "extreme" beers in the US took that stance.

Smooth body that goes down evenly and slowly, with a great roasted coffee flavor that's fairly vinous. There are a lot of similarities between this and their Taddy Porter, another of their solid beers. Moderate bitterness that is quickly covered by the vinous coffee flavor.

This was the first RIS I ever had, and I still judge all others by it. Great beer. I used to keep it around at all times, and have no idea why I got out of the habit.

Avery Brewing Company's Mephistopheles Stout

Well, the Avery Fanboys (a group to which I do not belong), talk this beer up big time. We'll see, I hope it's as good as they say it is.

Someone over at Avery has religion issues. But if they were going to name this one something with their constant, if trying, religious theme, this would be a good one. The art is cheesy, the description dumb, but it looks great coming out of the bottle. This is Batch 4, brewed in Nov. 2008, and it has to be an RIS the way it pours. Black. Huge, cascading deep brown head that settles to a deep tan. A great start.

Great, raw, grainy smell. Not bready, more basic than that. I mean that in a good way. A hint of hops bitterness, maybe, but mostly just grainy. One of the best smelling stouts out there.

Heavily smooth body. Almost like milk. Not as in a milk stout, but in feel alone. The alcohol comes out for the first time, since it was almost completely masked in the smell. Hard to believe it's 15.92% ABV, it doesn't feel like it although there is a little alcohol bite. Still has the solid grain taste, but much more roasted in the taste than the smell.

This would be a phenomenal beer. Would be. If not for the high alcohol content. Not only does it mute the malt, but it plays with it in an odd way. Muddles it. As the beer warms it becomes much more scotch-like, like many oak aged beers, and I hate that. The alcohol muddles the flavor and quite honestly, ruins it after a while. And on top of everything else, you can't enjoy too many beers at this high ABV, whereas you could have several beers with just as much flavor with a reasonable ABV.

Another beer that presents itself as an extreme beer, but would be much better if it wasn't.

You're on the right track guys, just stop the pissing match and make a good beer.

Brewdog Brewery's Rip Tide Twisted Merciless Stout

Cheezy name, but I can never pass up a new stout.

Pours an opaque black with amber to ruby highlights. Pours thinly, like a standard stout, and has a small light tan head that isn't too reminiscent of an imperial stout either. Good deep, vinous smell though. That puts it closer to a porter to my tastes, but as long as it starts getting more substantial that's all I care about. Roasted grain smell and alcohol are the most prominent smells aside from the tannins.

I can see where they get the liquorice description on their website. Very vinous feel to it as well, and a a taste that I'd say is closer to raisins or prunes than liquorice. Maybe black jelly beans, a nice middle ground. Low bitterness for the actual 65 IBU's that the brewer claims, so that's a good thing if you ask me.

Overall a good beer and I'll try their other offerings. Interesting take on the style, but it still feels more like an imperial porter than an imperial stout to me.

Great Divide Brewing Company's Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti Russian Imerial Stout

Another rarity in Texas, so I had to grab it when I saw it at Spec's. One of my all time favorite breweries too, and Yeti was my gateway RIS. The Oak Aged Yeti is an excellent, not-so-bourbony beer as well, so I'm thinking this one is going to be great as well.

Pours thick and opaque. Slow. Fantastic deep coffee-brown head that slowly recedes. Great roasted malt smell with a hint of bourbon and slight sweetness. The huge roasted malt keeps the bourbon back, but it's stronger in this one than Oak Aged Yeti. Bit of a milk-stout feel, smooth, like lactose would give it. Hoppy bitterness fights through as well. Cayenne? Eh, I noticed it after I read the label, but I would have preferred it without it. I initially thought the zip to be from the higher alcohol, but I guess it's the pepper by the way it stays in the aftertaste. You feel it more than taste it though. I've seen worse things done to beer for sure, but that just seems off.

I hope Great Divide isn't going the way of some of the other breweries that run odd one-off experiments from time to time, but I guess the market pushes in weird directions.

Good beer. A step down from their standards though.

Stone Brewing Company's Russian Imperial Stout Spring 2009

I don't really like this brewery. All that "you're not worthy" bullshit sounds like a bunch of douchebag beer fags who think that the only part of a beer that matters is the hops. They're stupid, but have plenty of douchebag faggoty fanboys who are right there with them, because they also think that the more bitter a beer is, no matter how out of style or imbalanced, the better it is.

But on this one, they showed some restraint.

Pours a fully opaque black with a big deep coffee brown head that fades slowly, but steadily. Great smooth smell, with a bit of a sharp alcohol tinge to it. Roasted malt with a slightly sweet chocolate smell underneath.

Great smooth feel to it. Silky, even, due to the substantial body and good carbonation. Substantial roasted malt flavor and the chocolate taste lingers as long as the bitterness to maintain the sweetness that balances out any bitterness. Overall a well balanced beer, without the hops pissing match.

Otter Creek Russian Imperial Stout

Finally, back to stout of the day. I've heard good things about Otter Creek but don't remember having had one of their beers before. Hopefully their Imperial Series isn't another version of Sam Adams' Brewmaster Series.

So far so good. Pours inky black that just looks heavier than a standard stout. Great deep tan head. Good roasted coffee smell as well.

You know, it feels a little too light. Not sure if it's because of the higher than normal carbonation, but either way it gives it sort of a soft-drink feel. And although there is a solid bitterness and a stronger roasted malt taste, it's a bit too vinous. It has a bit too much of that merlot tannins without the vinegar, and sort of wanders back and forth between that and a chocolate stout. Slightly sweet and sugary at times, which fights through the bitterness.

I'm not sure about this one. It's a little bit of a porter, a little bit of a chocolate stout, and a little but of an impy stout. It's just not a good, right in the middle of the style imperial stout. It's hard to beat the beers from Colorado to the West Coast in this style. This one certainly doesn't make it.

Southern Tier's Choklat

I'm not sure why, but I've been waiting for this one. I'm usually not a fan of chocolate stouts, but this one is well regarded and it's from a brewery that I can't get in Texas so of course that makes me want it more.

Deep opaque black with a moderate, medium tan head on even a hard pour. Small, slow bubbles apparent at the edge of the glass.

Smells great. Obvious chocolate that lingers between cocoa and semi-sweet and increases as it warms. Solid roasted malt backbone.

Bitterness hits you first, with a smooth, slow feel that feels like there's no carbonation. The chocolate comes next, almost as sweet as a Young's Double Chocolate Stout, but the 11% ABV and huge roasted bitterness keep it in check. Young's is like drinking a cake, this isn't subtle, but it's balanced.

This is not an every day beer. It's not that it's too big, but it is too chocolatey. Young's is sickly-sweet, this one is just chocolately. It would be good to split the bomber iwth friends as a dessert beer. Then hit the straight-up stouts, or maybe even straight-up coffee.

Nashoba Valley Brewery's Imperial Stout

I feel fairly fortunate to have received a sample of this small brewery's seasonal Imperial Stout. I've never heard of this brewery, but the label is interesting and I love trying new obscure breweries.

This one pours the standard inky black with a great deep tan head that thins, but not completely.

Uh-oh. Has a Belgian dubbel smell to it, so I let it warm. As it opened up a bit it smelled more like a solid, malty RIS. Deep bread, slight roasted coffee.

Interesting. Carbonation shows up in the feel to make is seem on the lighter side of imperial. At 70 IBU's it's surprisingly mellow, and same goes for the 8.2% ABV--both are well balanced and subdued. Very vinous--like Nashoba uses the same yeast for their beer as their wine. Compared to most impy stouts, this one is a bit lighter. All of the malt, roasted, and coffee flavors are there, just not as strong. Hints of Belgian beers pop up from time to time in the smell again, and in the taste. More like a Belgian strong ale than a dubbel now though.

Interesting take on an RIS. I don't like the phenols that show through from time to time, but they're very subdued. Overall this has the look and feel of an RIS, but it's more mellow than most. Good beer. Glad I had it.

Bell's Brewery's Expedition Stout

I thought Bell's Expedition Stout was on the porter side of a stout, and it's billed as "the vintage port of American stout" so I'm patting myself on the back for this one.

Pours an almost inky black. Almost as dark as their Kalamazoo, but a slight brown tint to it. Not as good a head as Kalamazoo, due to the heavier malt and probably higher alcohol content, but a decent dark tan head nonetheless. I'm thinking it's odd that this, an impy, isn't as dark in appearance as Kalamazoo, a milk stout, but all in all that doesn't affect my thoughts on it too much.

Good roasted grain smell, slightly vinous like it borders on the line between stout and porter. No alcohol smell, which is amazing because this one has 10.5% ABV.

Wow, huge bitterness. Creamy feel due to low carbonation, again similar to a porter, but this one grabs you. Huge bitterness that finishes with grain, and a coffee aftertaste.

Verges on "too bitter for a stout" for me, but it's still a good beer. I prefer Kalamazoo, it seems like it was more thought out than this one. Overall I'm starting to like this brewery though, and I hope they find their way to Texas sometime soon.

Follow Up: I let this beer sit a bit, and as it warmed the hops subsided quite a bit and it took on a very nutty, chocolatey flavor. It improved a ton, in my opinion. I'll have to keep that in mind for later if I get to have this one again.

Founders Breakfast Stout

I'll just lead off here by simply saying: Best.Stout.Evar.

Now, I'm sparse with the superlatives, and I try to be fair when evaluating beer--but this one has earned it.

Pours black, with a great dark tan head. Best head I've seen in an impy stout. Opaque, with reddish highlights around the edges.

Man, this smells great. Smells like coffee grounds. Not from a regular coffee maker, but like it was from the old percolator style coffee makers, except after the grounds have been sitting for a day. Strong, and wet. Great memories of my grandparents' kitchen. As the head fades the smell opens up more to the grain, with a sweetness from the heavy malt and oats.

The coffee disappears from the taste initially, but does come out in the aftertaste. The first hit is of sharp grain, from the huge malt. No discernible taste of oats, which are usually sweet but this beer is too big for the oats to compete against the malt and the coffee. In the aftertaste the coffee comes out much more, a good coffee, not some scorched Starbucks version. Strong, black. The alcohol is almost completely absent, not interfering in the taste of the malt or coffee one bit.

Best stout ever, I think. I could not find a single fault with it. Well, one fault--it's only a 12 oz. bottle.

Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout

I've been waiting for this one.

Russian Imperial Stout has been my favorite beer for a while, although it's starting to be overtaken by pilsners, for some reason. That's the beer equivalent of switching from pro-life religious Republican to pro-choice athiest Democrat. But it is what it is...

Anyway, this one pours an inky black, with red highlights but only at the extreme edges because of how thick this one is. Not as opaque as Ten FIDY or Bourbon County, but it doesn't have to be. Good sized head on an aggressive pour that's dark brown and fades to a sheet, but stays there.

Great smell. Deep, grainy smell with a hint of chocolate that comes from roasted malts and not the addition of cocoa, as many have to do. Slight sweetness, from the sheer amount of malt--mashed three times, which has to extract just about every last bit of starch--which in turn contributes to the 10% ABV. As the glass empties the lace on the side of the glass throws off a deep smell of dark bread.

Sharp grainy taste. Not sharp in a bad way, but clean for such a heavy beer. The high alcohol probably contributes to that, and although the alcohol is obvious in the taste it's not in a straight alcohol way. It's more of a deep, dark fermented fruit that gives way to the grainy taste, followed by the alcohol. Some hops bitterness, but primarily in the aftertaste. At the end is just a roasted coffee taste that lingers.

Very good beer. I wish there were less of a vinous/fermented fruit taste, but all in all it's one of the best impy stouts I've had.

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

Well, it appears that I have lost my taste for more than just Belgians. Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout makes a fairly decent bourbon, but a lousy beer, I think.

It's not because it defies expectations--one thing I've learned about the many beers that I've tried, especially the more extreme types, is that if they say they're something they generally are. Hop bombs, quads, you name it, the big beers deliver big flavors. So, objectively this beer is exactly what it says it is. It may even be under-advertised. But that doesn't mean I like it. Shit on a shingle is also well described in Army mess halls, and from what I hear it kind of sucks.

Pours black--the closest thing to Ten FIDY I've seen. It's as dark, but not as thick, as Ten FIDY. It would have been perfect if it had any real degree of head. The deep tan head on this one never really forms and stays at a collar.

Great bourbon smell, along the lines of Maker's Mark, but with a heavy bread smell mixed in.

It must be the alcohol content that really brings out the bourbon. It lends a bourbon sting in addition to the bourbon taste. As it warms there's really nothing but the bourbon taste with a sweetness from the heavy malt. What would normally be a roasted taste in a heavy stout is drowned out by the bourbon and alcohol. There's a slight deep coffee taste that comes through every once in a while.

I don't know, it's not my thing. I'd slam it harder, but damn if it isn't correctly labeled as bourbon first, stout second. My subjective taste doesn't mean it isn't objectively correct for the style, but since I can only judge by my taste I'm going to have to pass on recommending this one to anyone.