Mission brewery ‘dark seas’ Russian imperial stout

Rating:

image“Such a nice big beer for so many occasions, Dark Seas will intimidate those not willing to embrace the glory of its magnitude. Black as the darkest night, and full of dark fruit, coffee, and intense chocolate aromas. Dark Seas is sure to please those who choose to discover this wonderful beer.”

Wow! Straight from the pour you will know you are in for a rich and moreish stout. Served in a beer tulip it pours blacker than the ace of spades with a dense and dark brown head that retains well, eventually settling to a firm layer that omits decent lace trails down the glass. A decent swirl lifts up a pungent, yet also slightly sweet aromatic mix of booze, coffee, dark fruits, roasted malts, toffee, chocolate and molasses. It has an oily mouth feel with mild carbonation. Quite heavily bodied which is excellent, we hate stouts that are light and watery. Well, the palate is just rich, rich, rich. Upfront, warming alcohol is slowly followed by lingering flavours of dates, dark chocolate, coffee and bitter hops through the mid. A lovely suggestion of spice pops up late while a bitter and roasty finish moves in on the taste buds and refuses to go anywhere displaying brilliant length. Proper heart starter here, and at 9.8% ABV our advice is if you aren’t an adventurous beer drinker then give this a wide berth. On the other hand, if you are then jump straight into one of these bad boys, you won’t be disappointed.