Lakefront 25th Anniversary Imperial Stout

Lakefront Brewing just recently celebrated their 25th year of operations and to celebrate, they will be releasing 4 Limited Edition beers in commemoration. The first one, which I will be reviewing today, is an Imperial Stout. The other beers planned are a Bourbon Doppelbock, Saison, and Brandy Barrel-Aged Pumpkin Ale, according to BeerPulse.

It pours a pitch black color with a brown-red colored head. It doesn't really leave behind any lacing and it finishes rather clean.

The nose has a nice aroma of Vanilla, Rum Raisin, Chocolate and Cocoa. Reminds me a bit of Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, but with more Vanilla. Flavor wise, it's very vanilla and chocolate heavy upfront, followed by a rum raisin and cherry notes and has a boozy aftertaste.

The body and carbonation are both fairly light and doesn't really feel like something you'd expect from an Imperial Stout. How one interprets this is a matter of opinion.

So how do I feel about this beer? It's got good, unique and somewhat robust flavor, thanks to the vanilla and cherry flavors but the booziness does hurt the flavor. The body also is a bit watery for this style of beer and feels out of place but that does make it easy to drink. I have had much worse Imperial Stouts than this, but for this particular style of beer it's very in the middle of the road

Lakefront 25th Anniversary Imperial Stout - 7.5/10