I got an advance sample of the two new beers in the new Samuel Adams Imperial Series, an Imperial Stout and Imperial White. And in the midst of the Eagles' awesome comeback in today's NFC championship game (nervous, nervous), I'm trying the Imperial Stout.
It pours black, black as a strong cup of French roast. The beer's too cold at first, and I'm not getting much, so I let it warm up. Now I'm getting some coffee and graham off the top, some sweet, and a little bit of earthiness. The flavor's sweet with a stiff backing of bitterness, both hop and burnt grain. All the components are there, and this is good.
Is it awesome? Close. It's pretty good, but it's not making me see God. Those four incomplete passes that sealed the Eagles' fate, that is making me wish I could see God and ask him WHY?!, but the beer's not beefy enough. What body is there, is mostly just sweet; I'm looking for some more complexity, but I'm just getting volume. I want to like this beer, but that's about all I can say for it: I like it. Too sweet. Falling short. Like the Eagles today.
5 comments:
I got the bottle too Lew. Nice, but too sweet for me too, masking other sublte notes that might have come through better. Still, to counter balance, I pulled out a nice Arturo Fuente Don Carlos Rubosto to balance all that sweetness with some spice, smoke and dryness. THAT, was a nice marriage.
crying in my beer
Lew, do you know when the approx. release date for the SA Imperials is???
Mid-February, Bill.
Lew, just bought the Imperials the other day, can't wait to try them.
Interesting note, the Double Bock is now considered an Imperial, last year I got it as a plain old sixpack, now its a four pack with higher prices.
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