Beer Blogging - Victory Storm King Imperial Stout
Making up for lost time, here - hopefully people don't hate it when this blog becomes almost exclusively about beer. Anyway, I just opened another beer from Victory Brewing, the Storm King Imperial Stout.
I'm trying to think of all the imperial stouts I've had in the past, and the list is pretty short. I can think of Old Rasputin and maybe one from Rogue, but that's it, which is strange because I like the style. Anyway, the Storm King is a really black beer, and viscous - coming out of the bottle it looked more like used motor oil than beer. There was a thin brown head at first, but that went away quickly leaving only a ring around the edge of the glass. The aroma is a very interesting mix of sweet malt, coffee and bitter hops, suggesting a nice, complex beer.
And the taste definitely measures up. It starts off with molasses and roasted malt, and underneath that is the orange peel taste of the hops (which aren't as present in the taste as they are in the smell). The overall effect is sweet, but not too sweet, with just a little bit of bitterness. This taste blends nicely into the aftertaste, which has hints of espresso and dark chocolate and sticks around well into the next sip. There's a good amount of carbonation, which keeps the flavors from being too cloying, and a very slight hint of the 9.1% ABV.
Rating: 7/10. If the hops didn't hide in the molasses flavor so much the rating would be a little higher. Regardless, you'll like this beer if you like stouts, porters, and any other kinds of beer that get their flavor from roasted malts.
I'm trying to think of all the imperial stouts I've had in the past, and the list is pretty short. I can think of Old Rasputin and maybe one from Rogue, but that's it, which is strange because I like the style. Anyway, the Storm King is a really black beer, and viscous - coming out of the bottle it looked more like used motor oil than beer. There was a thin brown head at first, but that went away quickly leaving only a ring around the edge of the glass. The aroma is a very interesting mix of sweet malt, coffee and bitter hops, suggesting a nice, complex beer.
And the taste definitely measures up. It starts off with molasses and roasted malt, and underneath that is the orange peel taste of the hops (which aren't as present in the taste as they are in the smell). The overall effect is sweet, but not too sweet, with just a little bit of bitterness. This taste blends nicely into the aftertaste, which has hints of espresso and dark chocolate and sticks around well into the next sip. There's a good amount of carbonation, which keeps the flavors from being too cloying, and a very slight hint of the 9.1% ABV.
Rating: 7/10. If the hops didn't hide in the molasses flavor so much the rating would be a little higher. Regardless, you'll like this beer if you like stouts, porters, and any other kinds of beer that get their flavor from roasted malts.
Labels: beer
posted by The Disgruntled Chemist at
4:55 PM
