Beer: Stout Impérial
Brewer: Bièrerie Shelton
Imperial Stout, 10.5%
Bought it becauseit’s from a brewery that I had brought in to the shop due to customer request, and I have yet to really try their stuff. And you know, stouts. One of our regulars recommended it to me, so I thought might as well.
It poured out beautifully, all thick and smooth. Hardly any head at all, what little was there was a rich creamy coffee colour. It melted away into a thin film covering the top now. It’s very opaque, like you’d expect a stout to be, on the rich espresso brown side.
It smells very nice. Rich and bittersweet. And a bit fruity? The label talks of coffee, vanilla, chocolate, crème brûlée and dried fruit notes. Holy crap. That’s a lot to cram into one beer. Well, here goes.
Oh wow, not what I expected. The first thing to hit you is the bitterness. And then I think the dried fruit? I am having a hard time isolating the flavours. Hmmmmm ok third sip, the bitterness is not as intense. It’s still very predominant though.
Yeah you know what, I’m not a fan of this. Maybe my palate just isn’t refined enough or whatever, but this is just too many flavours shoved into a mouthful of bitterness. It’s sending icky goosebumps from my tongue to my toes. Nope nope nope.
I really dislike writing negative reviews, my only consolation is that I hope people who read this will understand this is based on my personal tastes, and not on some educated super swanky degree in beer tasting/analyzing.
I guess I recommend this if you have a taste for intense flavour blasts (to the extreme!) and overwhelming bitter-sweetness. This shit is rich, make no mistake.
I’m gonna finish this beer though, because I had a shit day and I’m not gonna let this one drink get the last word. Plus at 10.5%, I can at least get a bit of a buzz going.
***
All beers featured in this review are purchased at L`Épicerie Moderne, situated at 5854 Sherbrooke West, Montreal (NDG!)
