Bell's Expedition Stout Review

Name: Bell's Expedition Stout
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 10.5%

It's time to review yet another winter seasonal from Bell's Brewery and tonight I'll be reviewing their Expedition Stout, which is their Imperial Stout. It's also has the distinction of being one of the first Imperial Stouts that I ever had when I first got into craft beer (The first being Surly Darkness.)

Expedition Stout pours is black in color with a brown head. The head itself has some good volume and it the beer leaves behind some decent lacing.

The aroma starts off which a heavy chocolate malt & cocoa nib scent with notes of vanilla and roasted barley.

Interestingly enough, the flavor has a distinct smokiness and roasted barley taste followed by notes of dark chocolate, licorice and vanilla. The aftertaste consists of chocolate malts and roasted barley. Oddly enough, I don't remember there being any smokiness when I had this before, but that could be because I didn't pick up on it the first time around.

The palate has some heaviness to it along with some rather mild carbonation, which fits seemingly well as it allows the drinker to enjoy the flavors this beer has to offer.

Expedition Stout is a nicely balanced Imperial Stout that has just the right amount of malt and roasty/smokiness that one would expect from an Imperial Stout. Definitely worth checking out if you can get it in your area.

Bell's Expedition Stout - 9/10

Deschutes The Abyss Review

Name: Deschutes The Abyss
Style: Russian Imperial Stout
ABV: 11%

Around the end of each year, Deschutes Brewing releases their highly sought after Russian Imperial Stout simply known as "The Abyss,” and yes the ”The” is part of the name. Earlier I reviewed Black Butte XXV Imperial Porter,which is also from Deschutes and their only other notable stronger beer. So it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

The Abyss pours a pitch black color with a relatively thin brown head and decent lacing. The visible carbonation is also fairly mild.

Chocolate & vanilla are fairly prominent in the nose. There is also some notes of bourbon, oak, molasses and licorice.

Likewise, the flavor is also fairly chocolate and vanilla with a more pronouced oak & bourbon flavor, along with a more roasted barley profile. The aftertaste is mainly chocolate malts and licorice.

The body is quite heavy and thick which is paired with mild carbonation. The palate as whole feels very creamy!

This was a very tasty Imperial Stout and a reasobably priced one at that! I know bottles of this beer are in fairly high demand so grab a bottle if you see this.

Deschutes The Abyss - 9.25/10

Surly Darkness Review

Name: Surly Darkness
Style: Imperial Stout 
ABV: 10.3%

Every fall, one of the most highly anticipated craft beers in Minnesota is released by Surly Brewing which is their Darkness. How highly anticipated you ask? Some stores have to release it in waves to ensure everyone gets a fair shot at getting it and some stores sell out of their entire supply in less than half an hour. This isn't some $5 bomber either, it ranges in price anywhere from $17-25.

Since we didn't get this here in Duluth until about 3 days or so after they sold out of it in the Twin Cities, procuring a bottle of this was much less of a hassle than it was when I first got it. And by "less of a hassle" I mean not having to call ahead or be put on a list.

The bottle artwork also changes yearly as well and it always looks pretty badass. A couple years ago, when I first had it, it depicted a zombie holding a snifter glass. This year it's a Hell Demon holding a chalice as it's face is melting off. If anyone from Surly happens to stumble upon this blog, next year have Cthulhu as your artwork. Just saying!

It goes without saying that there's a good chance that by the time you are reading this, every bottle of this year's Surly Darkness will either be consumed or cellared for aging purposes. In my case, it was consumed!

Darkness pours a pitch black color with a foamy khaki-colored head. There isn't any visible carbonation and the lacing it leaves behind is great.

The nose has a strong chocolate, vanilla and cherry scent about it. Complimenting this are roasted malts & barley with some light smokey notes. For some reason, I'm expecting this to be barrel aged given my initial impressions and they apparently do have a barrel aged Darkness.

In the flavor I'm getting chocolate nibs, vanilla, cherries, and dark fruity notes. This is supported by a stronger smokiness, chocolate malts and roasted barley and some mild but noticeable hoppiness. The flavor as a whole is very rich and robust.

It's got a very smooth and creamy body that is light weight and almost free from carbonation. You should have no trouble drinking this at all.

Simply put, Darkness is a beer that you must experience for yourself. It has everything you'd want out of an Imperial Stout and more which makes it one of the best Imperial Stouts I have ever had. Since it is more than likely sold out for 2013, try and seek this out if you can next year around the end of October. Trust me, it'll be worth it!

Surly Darkness - 9.75/10

Lift Bridge Silhouette Review

Lift Brewing Brewing Company is another Minnesota-based Brewery that has grown exponentially in the past couple of years and has just recently announced their third expansion since opening up just a couple of years ago. This is not uncommon seeing how tremendously the craft beer scene has grown these past couple of years. It is indeed a good time to be a beer lover here in Minnesota; Mind you, we are not at Colorado or Portland-level yet but one day I feel we will.

Anyways, Lift Bridge is located in Stillwater, MN; Which is a town literally right across the river from Wisconsin. Their most popular brew based on what I've seen at bars and stores is their Farm Girl Saison. Today I'll be looking at their Silhouette Imperial Stout, which comes in at 10% ABV. According to the brewery's website, this is a Winter Release. To me, Imperial Stouts are a year-round thing and some of them age wonderfully.

Silhouette pours a pitch black color with a filmy dark brown head. You can see little carbonation bubbles on the sides of the glass as well as your own reflection.

The nose has a fairly nice aroma of Vanilla, Bourbon, Cherry, Oak, Chocolate Nibs and Roasted Malts. I know they did a barrel aged edition of Silhouette a couple of years ago and what I have in front of me certainly smells like it but at the same time I know that may not be the case.

When it comes to the flavor, it's surprisingly smokey for an Imperial Stout. At the same time, it also has the rich Vanilla, Oak, Roasted Malt and Chocolate flavor. It's still got that Vanilla-Bourbon flavor to it but not overtly so. The smokiness reminds one of a Baltic Porter, but the other flavors serve as a reminder that this is still very clearly an Imperial Stout.

The body has a moderate weight to it and the carbonation is quite mild. Very smooth and creamy feel to it and compliments the flavor quite nicely.

It's an Imperial Stout with a slight Baltic Porter twist to it, and it works out quite well for the most part. It's got a great flavor and a smooth body and any seasoned Imperial Stout fan looking for something tasty and slightly different should definitely try this one out!

Lift Bridge Silhouette - 9/10

Brooklyn Black Choclate Stout Review

Well as it turns out, I apparently have one more Winter Seasonals in my possession than I originally thought. One of which I am saving for an upcoming review, and the other one I have is Brooklyn Brewery's Black Chocolate Stout. I had this on-tap earlier this year and thought it tasted pretty good, so I'll be sitting down and giving this a closer look.

To start out, it pours an opaque black color with a brown head. This is one those beers where I can see my own reflection on the glass as I hold it up to look at it; It's that dark!

The nose has very sweet chocolate, licorice, rum raisin, and roasted malt notes. The licorice note in particular sort of jumps out at me, giving this an almost burnt sweet-spice smell to it....at least that's the way I can best describe it, or I can just say it's hard to put my finger on.

In the flavor you get rich chocolate, mocha-chino, licorice, rum raisin and roasted malts. Pretty unique flavor in terms of Imperial Stouts, with a nod in particular to the rum raisin & licorice flavors. There is a very very slight booziness to the flavor, but for a beer clocking in at 10% ABV I'll let it fly.

The body feels "wide" but not heavy, it's mildly carbonated, and feels quite creamy when consumed. I say that they have the body nailed down almost perfectly for this style.

I was impressed by the uniqueness of the flavor and how smooth it was, maybe next time I'll take the advice on the bottle and allow it to age. Even without the aging, this is a great Imperial Stout that I would recommend checking out

Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - 9/10

New Holland Dragon's Milk Review

Name: New Holland Dragon's Milk
Style: Imperial Stout 
ABV: 10%

I've seen it on the shelves numerous times; With it's wrapped tin-foil top and dragon emblem on the front but I never really bothered to check it out for reasons which I really cannot explain, even though I'm a diehard Imperial Stout fan. I decided that needed to changed and picked up a bottle of New Holland Dragon's Milk last week to check it out, plus anything barrel aged is enough for me to check it out.

I've never really had the opportunity to try New Holland's full lineup; The only other beer I've tried out from them is their Golden Cap Saison Ale, which is fantastic if you have not tried it out yet! So I'll see what all this is about.

Dragon's Milk pours a pitch black color with a faint crimson tinge on the very bottom. Not really much in terms of head, but it does leave behind a ton of lacing.

Even before taking a closer whiff, I could already smell it from 2-3 feet away. The nose has some very rich milk chocolate, vanilla, bourbon, oak and roasted malts. By smelling this, you can tell that this was clearly barrel aged and it smells fantastic!

I thought the aroma was nice, but it's nothing compared to how it actually tastes. Every milk chocolate, vanilla/bourbon, and oak note that was in the nose is in the flavor with a vengeance! Every aspect of the flavor is rich & complex with only a slight boozy taste that becomes noticeable more it warms up.

On top of everything else, it's got a very creamy and smooth body. It's heavy but thanks to the subdued carbonation, it feels like I'm drinking liquid silk; It's that smooth!

I've had many Imperial Stouts before, both good and bad. With that in mind, I feel this is now among my favorites of the Imperial Stout Style. New Holland did a great job making this beer and you can tell they put a great deal of care into making this. My only complaint is that I didn't try this out sooner!

New Holland Dragon's Milk - 9.75/10