Old Schoolhouse Brewers Reserve Imperial Stout

This is a local brewery that I’ve had almost nothing from. This “Brewers Reserve” comes in a very attractive bottle with a waxed top. The beer itself features 2-row, English Crystal, Munich, Chocolate, Black, and Victory malts with roasted barley and Columbus, Mt. Hood, and Crystal hops. Let’s give it a go.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 10.0% ABV. 60 IBUs. Washington. Limited Release.

Nearly black with ruby hues and a nice tan head.

Lots of chocolate, roast, and a bit of charcoal on the nose, but it’s a bit closed.

Mouthfeel has a nice body, but it’s more carbonated than I’d expect.

Roasty, vanilla, charcoal, chocolate, and some chocolate covered plums. Medium bitterness and long chocolate and roast length.

The roasty-ness is a bit over-bearing in this beer, and it makes drinkability suffer. If not for that, this is a beautiful beer that brings all the lovely flavors of the world-class stouts. 89 points.

Midnight Sun Obliteration VII

Midnight Sun’s Obliteration Series is all about the hops. Almost all the beers in the series have been double IPAs, but this one is an imperial stout. This beer features Pale 2-row, Black malts with roasted and flaked barley. The hops include Warrior, Magnum, and Nugget, and is dry-hopped with Nugget.

Stats:
American Imperial Stout. 8.5% ABV. 100 IBUs. Alaska. Limited Release.

Very dark chocolate brown. Fluffy head on here.

Soy sauce comes through pretty big. Some chocolate also comes through with earthy hops.

Mouthfeel is very nice here. Medium to full bodied.

Hops hit the palate big time bringing a fairly earthy quality. It mellows a little bit towards the chocolate, but the hops come back with bitterness that’s on the high side of a stout. After the bitterness fades, the most amazing coffee and chocolate length emerges.

It’s a hoppy mother of a stout, but damn, it’s got attitude that you have to try. 91 points.

Beer Club 12/10/11 Winter Seasonals

Yes, I’m finally getting around to posting a recap of the last beer club. This one might be on the shorter side, because we consumed the largest amount of beer for a beer club yet. It was also the smallest crowd that we’ve had for a beer club. So we drank a lot. I grabbed a bunch of random Winter seasonals. Some are my favorites, and some I just thought would be interesting.

We started with the Winter Bock from Silver City. This one was actually a big hit. It’s an easy-drinking beer, with a hint of sweetness, which went over very well.

The 10 Degrees Below is one of my favorite seasonals from this state. It’s a weizenbock, which makes it an interesting, and delicious, twist for the season.

Moving back to Silver City, we have the Old Scrooge. This is actually considered an English Barleywine. I have to say that the beer seems like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. It’s more like a cross between a winter warmer and a barleywine. I don’t think this one was a winner for anyone.

Moving on to a winter warmer from Oregon, the Laurelwood Vinter Varmer went over pretty well. It’s an alright beer, but doesn’t blow me away, especially with all the other great examples out there.

Then one of my favorites, the Deschutes Jubelale. I love this beer, but it didn’t seem to be a huge hit that night. It’s my favorite winter warmer, and it’s just a delicious beer. This year’s batch is actually quite a bit different, but every bit as excellent as last year’s.

And now for something a little different. This hopped up New Belgium Snow Day actually went over pretty well. Even though it’s a hoppy mother of a beer, the bitterness was on the lower side, which made it fairly drinkable for the rest of the club. I was expecting people to hate this, but they didn’t.

And here’s another one of my favorite Winter beers. This barleywine was a bit too much for everyone, except the one person who is a big fan of barleywines. I love this beer, and I’ve got one stashed away for next Christmas.

To end the night, we had the imperial stout from Port Brewing called Santa’s Little Helper. The beer was surprisingly light for an imperial stout, but it still had a bite. I wish we would have had this one before the HotD barleywine, because it wasn’t a very roasty beer and the hops from the barleywine really destroyed the palate.

We’ll see you next month!

Deschutes The Abyss 2011

This is always a special release that I look forward to. I’ve had several vintages of this beer and always like to see the differences on each batch. Deschutes is one of my very favorite breweries, and their reserve stuff is unbelievable. Let’s see how this year’s batch is.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 11.0% ABV. 65 IBUs. Oregon. Limited Release.

About as dark as they get, but does have some dark brown on the edges.

I don’t even know where to begin on the nose. There’s chocolate, smoke, anise, caramel, vanilla, and bourbon. It has a slight earthyness, but the sweetness comes across heavy.

Mouthfeel is a bit more carbonated than I was expecting, but it’s still a huge body.

Give me a second to consult the thesaurus. All of the above, from the nose. There’s some much flavor in here, it’s ridiculous. But it’s not just the flavor, it’s the balance. Nothing overtakes the palate. The length is tremendous with chocolate and coffee.

This is one of the most complex, delicious, and balanced beers that I’ve had. This is drinking extremely well right now. It’s possible this won’t age quite as well as previous vintages, but don’t worry about it. Buy it. 96 points.

Rahr Snowmageddon

This is the final Rahr beer from @bttreemonkey. This beer isn’t actually listed on the brewery’s website, but it’s a winter released imperial stout.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 10.0% ABV. Texas. Winter Seasonal.

Quite a red looking stout with great head.

The nose has rum, chocolate, sour apples, banana, vanilla, and a little bit of coffee. Nice rich nose, but not on the roasty side.

Mouthfeel is a bit too light, but damn is this easy drinking for 10%.

vanilla, rum, banana, plums, chocolate, and a little roasted coffee on the back. It is a little bit hot, but it’s not really bothering me.

This is actually a fairly unroasted imperial stout, staying on the lighter, fruity side without getting too sweet. This is almost too easy drinking with the alcohol so high, but it is a little hot and I would like to see the alcohol maybe come down a point, but otherwise this is a lovely beer. 90 points.

Dogfish Head World Wide Stout

This is a hard to find high alcohol stout. It runs somewhere in the range of 15-20% ABV. It’s also not cheap. It’s a 12oz bottle, so I believe it’s probably the most expensive beer that I’ve ever bought by oz. But hey, I just graduated college. I deserve a treat.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 18% ABV. 70 IBUs. Delaware.

Fairly light stout color. It’s dark brown and very little head.

The nose is boozy with dark chocolate, caramel, soy sauce, rum, and some vanilla and oak round it out.

Mouthfeel is actually really carbonated which gives it the perception of light body, but after the tingles fade, there is quite a silky body.

Rum, some roast flavor, caramel, bananas, peaches, chocolate, and a little bitterness. Vanilla and oak hints with a lot of tobacco on the finish.

I like this a lot more than I thought I would. It’s surprisingly light, so it’s not hugely roasty. I also love that it doesn’t bring a bunch of soy sauce like I was expecting, and for the ABV doesn’t over-power the palate at all. 93 points.

Southern Tier Oat (Blackwater Series)

This big stout is apart of the Blackwater Series of imperial stouts from Southern Tier. This one features 2-row Pale, caramel, chocolate, and black malts with oats and barley flakes. The hops include Columbus and Willamette.

Stats:
Imperial Oatmeal Stout. 11.0% ABV. New York. Limited Fall Release.

It’s black, it’s very, very dark. Nice tan head on here.

Imperial stout nose. Lots of molasses, soy sauce, roasted barley, slightly earthy, slightly nutty, and a nice vanilla component.

Full bodied mouthfeel, very velvety.

Just like the nose, lots of soy sauce, molasses, roasted flavors, a nice vanilla component again. Definitely getting some alcohol on here, giving it a rich bourbon feel.

Well-made beer. If you are a fan of imperial stouts, then this beer is for you. It’s also excellent for the price. Alcohol is actually pretty well contained, so I can’t complain much there. Admittedly, this isn’t my favorite style, as that soy sauce component that you get on most high ABV stouts doesn’t appeal to my palate very much. But if that’s not something that bothers you, then pick this beer up immediately. 91 points.

Big Sky Ivan The Terrible

This spendy beer, is a highly rated imperial stout from Montana’s Big Sky brewery. This beer features Pale, Crystal, Roast, and Black malts with Simcoe and East Kent Goldings hops. It’s also barrel aged in Bourbon Oak and bottle conditioned.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 10.0% ABV. 65 IBUs. Montana.

Black in color with a tan head that fades, but leaves some lacing.

The nose is very bourbon barrel-y. Some coffee and roasted malts come through, and a bit boozy. Big beer stuff, here!

Medium to full bodied, but has a good level of carbonation.

Lots of bourbon whiskey flavor with roasted malts, chocolate, vanilla, dark fruits, and earth. It starts out with the whiskey flavor, and then melds into an imperial stout flavor profile with that roasted quality. The finish is surprisingly refined, despite the boozy characteristic of the beginning. Of course, some of that is due to the oak, but it works fantastically here.

This is quite good, and quite well made. It’s balanced, it’s delicious, it’s a damn good beer. 93 points.

Rogue Double Chocolate Stout

This not so cheap beer from Rogue is part of their double series, including Double Dead Guy and Double Mocha Porter. This beer features C120, Chocolate, and Risk malts with Cascade and Revolution hops, rolled oats, honey, natural chocolate flavoring, and as usual, Pacman yeast. This beer did win a gold at the latest World Beer Championships, so let’s see how it is.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 8.7 % ABV. 50 IBUs. Oregon.

Pours like black tar. One of the darkest stouts I’ve ever seen. It has a tan head that does not go away at all.

The nose smells like a bowl of Hersheys dark chocolate syrup. That is all.

Fairly thick bodied, but has enough carbonation to make it drinkable.

The palate is dark, rich, thick chocolate. It gets quite bitter though, but with a highly roasted coffee flavor, and a slight dirt taste. The length is immense, but it’s a really bitter coffee, chocolate flavor, and it’s actually not that great. It’s slightly sweet, which works for this beer. There is also a tad bit of alcohol that comes through which concerns me.

Well, I do like this beer, but you shouldn’t spend over $13 on it like I did. It’s a little overbearing and I think the chocolate hides some issues underneath. 89 points.

Southern Tier Choklat

I’ve had this review sitting around for quite awhile, actually I just found it. You can’t get this beer right now, as it’s a winter seasonal. This beer features 2-row, caramel, chocolate malt with barley flakes, bittersweet Belgian chocolate, and Chinook and Willamette hops.

Stats:
Imperial Stout. 9.5% ABV. New York. Winter Seasonal.

Black with dark brown hues, not a lot of head.

One of the most unusual noses I’ve ever encountered. Certainly chocolate, boozy, and really sweet smelling. It also smells pretty fruity, but very candy-esk. I’m imagining those hard candies shaped like bananas. Caramel also makes an appearance.

Full bodied mouthfeel, it’s fantastic.

Chocolate, caramel, apples, candied bananas, more chocolate, and cherries. Kind of a weird mid-palate and really sweet. The finish is some chocolate, but really roasted. Slightly disjointed, but no bitterness.

Very strange beer. I’m kinda perplexed by it. It’s not my kind of beer that is for sure. Let’s go 87 points.