“This chocolate imperial stout will seduce you! Caramel Fudge notes come through strongly with a nice balance between sweet and bitter.”
Served in a beer tulip. The opaque black pour aroused a dense, fluffy tan head that sits just shy of two fingers in height. It’s retained well too, stubbornly holding up a thick overlay that leaves a sheet of lace clinging to the walls of the glass. Looks fantastic. There’s certainly a lot happening on the nose. It’s extremely potent and has this dominant sweet/creamy viscosity. The caramel fudge features nicely with an arsenal of aromas in support. What we manage to isolate includes coconut rum, vanilla, melted chocolate, creme caramel, brown sugar, alcohol and toffee. Maybe just the slightest hint of pine from the use of Cascade and Summit hops too. Gorgeous. Really sweet but decadent at the same time. In the mouth it’s super sharp and prickly in texture. Quite a pronounced alcohol burn here. It’s pretty bitter too, although that could just be the whopping 11.5% ABV persisting in to the swallow. Upfront the delicious creamy sweetness along with chewy notes of caramel and toffee are quickly drowned out by the immense alcohol burn. An aggressive bitterness imparts hints of burned chocolate and espresso but this overpowering booze burn seems to hinder rather than help. Suggestions of creamy vanilla and caramel return in the finish and draw out with a dry bitterness along with this unshakable taste of alcohol on the back palate. If you haven’t caught on by now then this is super boozy! Way too boozy for our liking. It’s a real shame because before the first sip it was shaping up to be a 10/10 beer. The appearance and aroma are brilliant but the mouth feel and overall flavour is inhibited by the strident alcohol burn and really is the one and only negative.