Beer Review of The Week: Left Hand Imperial Stout

The other weekend when the weather up here in Michigan was actually warm for a spell, Gino and I were sitting on the back porch after doing some furniture moving; but I digress. I had a 22oz of Left Hand Imperial Stout in my beer fridge, so we pulled that out and poured out two mugs of it and gave it a try. To be honest, I was quite surprised by the rich and pungent flavor of this brew. The barley flavor hits you first, but then is complemented with a rich coffee taste on the back-end of the flavor profile. With very little aroma your tongue feel as though something is missing from this brew, I prefer beers with an aroma, it helps you to draw out more of the subtler flavors by utilizing multiple senses. Finally the booze flavors hit and in this beer they are actually quite strong given the hearty alcohol content of the imperial stout. I would have this beer again, but I am not sure if I would buy it regular price or wait for it to be on sale.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 3 out of 5
• Flavor – 4 out of 5
• Refreshness – 2  out of 5
• Smell – 0 out of 5
• Overall – 9  out of 20
• Price – $7.99 22oz
• ABV – 10.4%
• Plato -
• Style – Imperial Stout

Beer Review of the Week: Southern Tier Imperial Chokolat Stout

Imperial Chokolat Stout is one of winter seasonal beers produced by Southern Tier Brewing Company. This is a chocolate twist on the traditional imperial stout, Chokolat starts out with a sweet chocolate taste on the front of the palette followed by the full richness of the stout base flavors. The stout’s base has a richness that gives the coffee like taste coming from the barley and roasted caramel brewing mash. Chokolat’s flavor profile gives this beer such a luscious and sweet taste that I would recommend this as a dessert beer. The sweetness would make this stout pair very well with chocolate or vanilla flavored ice cream or the light flavor of  crepe.

Rating:

• Drinkability – 4 out of 5
• Flavor – 5 out of 5
• Refreshness – 2  out of 5
• Smell – 5 out of 5
• Overall – 16  out of 20
• Price – $8.99 22oz
• ABV – 9.5%
• Plato - 195⁰
• Style – Imperial Stout