This beer is part of Epic’s Biennial Stout Series, which means that it is only made every second year. It is therefore a very Limited Edition.
It is made in a Foreign Stout style, and reaches 9% abv and comes in a 500 ml bottle. Retails around NZD $12.
For background information about the producer, visit Epic Brewing‘s profile page.
Epic’s own Tasting Notes say: Imperium has a rich aroma of melted dark Whittaker’s chocolate drizzled on burnt Vogel’s toast. The flavour is cocoa, salted caramel, plums, and burnt fruit cake. A silky and voluptuous mouth feel, and a long, tarry, and belly warming finish.
My Tasting Notes:
Deep dark-brown colour. Very dense, can’t see through. Milk chocolate colour head. Dark, but shiny and appealing.
Nose display notes of brioche, cocoa, coffee, toffee, rather yeasty (marmite). Intense but subtle and complex notes of torrefaction. Series of sweet spices appearing with agitation: cinamom, nutmeg surrounded by honey. Overall, coffee & spice-rich ginger bread.
Palate: I am stroke by the full-on richness as soon as I put it in my mouth. The beer coats your palate with a dense creamy texture. Middle palate develops with fine bubbles. The rich body holds the beer in the mooth superbly. Bitterness develop on the palate as the tasting goes, to become rather pronounced. It is then met by malty sweetness that balances it out. Finish is long, dominated by enjoyable mouth-watering bitterness and flavours of sweet toasts, golden syrup and Italian espresso. Flavoursome and pine resinny hops become perceptible and present towards the finish, completing the range of flavours for an interesting complexity.
Overall, a superb, full-on rich and intense stout beer, that manages to maintain its richness and bitterness under control thanks to rounded body and balanced sweetness. A must-try.
Further info on epicbeer.com
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