Idiot's Review: Samuel Smith Imperial Stout
Posted: Thu Sep 25, 2014 11:01 am
Samuel Smith Imperial Stout
Russian Imperial Stout | 7.00% ABV
The Bear recommended 4 classes of beers to get started, one being a "Stout", and recommending Guiness Draught or Deschutes Obsidian Stout as representative of the category. Since both of us are lifelong lovers of Guinness (especially from a nitrogen tap), we settled on the Sam Smith simply because the Deschutes was unavailable.
Our impressions are merged:
Lovely and classic Samuel Smith bottle and label from a very old and respected brewer. The pour produced an abundance of the expected cappucino colored foam, thus a slow and interrupted pour to reveal a dense, nearly opaque black coffee color.
Sue Sea referred to a lovely classic stout aroma, like Guinness, like strong coffee, cacao (not chocolate), expresso, nutmeg or hazelnut. I added a background bit of dark fruit, black licorice, nuttiness and roasted grain. Rather than a clear finish, the Smith's Imperial slid into what would better be described as a nice lingering aftertaste of coffee and cacao.
The taste was entirely consistent, with the nicely dry and bitter of a good stout. Compared to our usual beer - Guinness - the Samuel Smith Imperial Stout was smoother, denser, less bitter and more integrated. While Sue Sea and her beloved Guinness are on the same page, I am close but not quite as enamored of it, as I find it edgy enough to have to really be in the mood for it.
OTOH, I find the Sam Smith Imperial to be more sophisticated and balanced. To me it retains all the qualities of Guinness, including the bitters, but lacking the harsher edginess.
Lovely. We'd absolutely buy this one again, brilliant stuff.
*******
Special Note: we tasted this beer, after which we lit up da'rum's recommended accompaniment of what proved to be a perfect match - the Don Pepin Le Bijou 1922 Petit Robusto. If you care to read that review and you'll understand why...
http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?t=1451
Russian Imperial Stout | 7.00% ABV
The Bear recommended 4 classes of beers to get started, one being a "Stout", and recommending Guiness Draught or Deschutes Obsidian Stout as representative of the category. Since both of us are lifelong lovers of Guinness (especially from a nitrogen tap), we settled on the Sam Smith simply because the Deschutes was unavailable.
Our impressions are merged:
Lovely and classic Samuel Smith bottle and label from a very old and respected brewer. The pour produced an abundance of the expected cappucino colored foam, thus a slow and interrupted pour to reveal a dense, nearly opaque black coffee color.
Sue Sea referred to a lovely classic stout aroma, like Guinness, like strong coffee, cacao (not chocolate), expresso, nutmeg or hazelnut. I added a background bit of dark fruit, black licorice, nuttiness and roasted grain. Rather than a clear finish, the Smith's Imperial slid into what would better be described as a nice lingering aftertaste of coffee and cacao.
The taste was entirely consistent, with the nicely dry and bitter of a good stout. Compared to our usual beer - Guinness - the Samuel Smith Imperial Stout was smoother, denser, less bitter and more integrated. While Sue Sea and her beloved Guinness are on the same page, I am close but not quite as enamored of it, as I find it edgy enough to have to really be in the mood for it.
OTOH, I find the Sam Smith Imperial to be more sophisticated and balanced. To me it retains all the qualities of Guinness, including the bitters, but lacking the harsher edginess.
Lovely. We'd absolutely buy this one again, brilliant stuff.
*******
Special Note: we tasted this beer, after which we lit up da'rum's recommended accompaniment of what proved to be a perfect match - the Don Pepin Le Bijou 1922 Petit Robusto. If you care to read that review and you'll understand why...
http://rumproject.com/rumforum//viewtopic.php?t=1451