Mike Loves Beer -

Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout

August 7, 2009

Name – Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout
Country – England
Type – Russian Imperial Stout

Appearance – Pours a deep black color that shows some brown around the edges. Big light brown head.

Smell – Sweet chocolate and toffee with some roasted coffee malt backing. Slight alcohol burn to the nose.

Taste – The chocolate and roasted malts mix great on this. Very smooth with a very small taste of alcohol at the end.

I’ve have always meant to try this and actually have had it on a few occasions but didn’t have my camera handy for pictures. It always came highly recommended and I know why. This is just a wonderfully done beer, which is not surprising coming from Samuel Smith. The sweet and roasted flavors compliment each other very well and neither is overpowering of the other. If not the best, one of the best Imperial Stouts I’ve ever had.

Overall Grade – A

Stone Smoked Porter

August 6, 2009

/ Beer Review /

2 Comments

Name – Stone Smoked Porter
Country – United States
Type – American Porter

Appearance – Poured a black color with some reddish highlights along the glass. Big tan head but it went down pretty quick.

Smell – Predominant sweet smells. I was picking up cherry and licorice. Slight smoked smell in there as well.

Taste – Wow did this throw me off. The taste of licorice was big along with a taste of cherry. I could pick up a very slight bit of smoke and roasted malts but those sweet tastes just dominated.

I have to be honest that black licorice is definitely on top of my least liked tastes list and I just was not expecting that with this brew. I thought maybe I got a bad bottle until I read the back and saw that there was suppose to be a licorice flavor to it. I didn’t pick up any chocolate that I could distinguish in it nor really any coffee notes. I’m tempted to try it again because it just didn’t seem right to me for the style but I guess that’s really how this beer’s profile is. I am going to mark it based on the odd tastes that I’m personally not use to with a porter.

Overall Grade – D

Heavy Seas – Peg Leg (Imperial Stout)

August 4, 2009

/ Beer Review /

5 Comments

Name – Heavy Seas – Peg Leg (Imperial Stout)
Country – United States
Type – Russian Imperial Stout

Appearance – Pours a deep, opaque black color with a nice light brown, tannish head.

Smell – All the smells are sort of subdued but you can pick up roasted malts along with some coffee and chocolate.

Taste – Pretty much right on with the smell. The roasted malts are the predominant taste with chocolate and coffee present. There is some very slight bitterness to it of hops. Slight alcohol burn in there at the end but nothing intense.

Not a bad offering from Clipper City here. Nothing really wrong except that the flavors and smells don’t seem that powerful. But all in all a better than average stout.

Overall Grade – B-