Founders Imperial Stout
Appearance: Black with milk chocolate head
Smell: Iced mocha and booze. It smells like a Starbucks Frapuccino.
Taste: Really chocolatey and smooth up front with a super dry, almost chalky finish. It reminds us of the Taza 80% cacao chocolate, with dark berry notes despite the complete lack of fruit. There is definitely some alcohol in the finish of the flavor. While this is a very good imperial stout, there are definitely some better ones out there.
Note: This is one we've been wanting to try for a while. It's always been on their website, and we saw information about it when we hit the Founders tap room in Grand Rapids, MI back in September of 2007. We had it when it was totally fresh, so we're going to retry it down the line and see how it does with a little age on it.
New England Brewing Company Imperial Stout Trooper
Appearance: BLACK. Very dark head.
Smell: Chocolate milk shake. Smells sweet and chocolatey with just a touch of vanilla. AKA, it smells very good.
Taste: Wow, it tastes like a chocolate milkshake, too! Sweet, creamy and milk chocolatey. Not overly sweet, though, but balanced. Quite an amazing stout! The alcohol is very well hidden, too... Plus, it's named after one of the largest film phenomenons of our time.
Berkshire Brewing Company Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout
Appearance: Dark black with garnet tinges at the edges. Light brown head. It looks thinner than expected.
Smell: Whoa! Bourbon! Good morning! It smells like good bourbon, but bournbon none the less and that's about it.
Taste: Thin chocolate. You can really taste the oak. A bit of tannin and vanilla in there, too. It's definitely thinner than expected and drier. The tannins also lend a little bit of sourness. The label says this was aged for 9 months in used bourbon barrels. Being that Berkshire's Imperial Stout is not that big and bold to start, 9 months may have been a bit long with this. The wood overwhelms the flavor a bit and bourbon is all you can smell. It's definitely tasty, but being that their Bourbon Barrel Aged Scotch Ale is so good, and they have so many other amazing offerings, this may not be a priority to get. That said, Jeff had a version of this beer last year when it was released as a gift for retailers, and it was thicker and much more robust. So we look forward to trying this again, assuming they take another attempt. And, obviously, we're waiting without much patience for them to release the Barrel Aged Scotch Ale through Julio's in Westborough, MA this Spring.