Pint Bottle
The idea of Imperial Stouts and light, sweet, or delicate fruit almost always intrigues me, but also almost always dissapoints me. Hoping Widmer Brothers will be different in the second regard.
Pours black, like most imperial stouts, with a thin lacing of slightly darker than khaki head. Off the head I get a strong malt smell that can be associated to the imperial stout brewing style, but also a bit of dark chocolate and raspberry. A little sweet caramel in there as well. On the first sip you get a very nice malty imperial stout hit, some strong chocolate in there as well. A little bit of subtle raspberry, maybe just a little less strong than the chocolate, both of which take the back seat to a nice pure imperial stout flavor. The flavors kind of hit in that order as well - stout, then chocolate, then raspberry. It seems to me that there's a bit of coffee and caramel as well, but nothing more than a minor hint of either. Bit of a hoppy aftertaste, maybe a little stronger than I'm used to in imperials. Traces of alcohol, makes sense at 9.3% ABV, though other IS's around the same ABV do a better job of hiding it.
Not a bad beer. I was expecting a stronger showing from the raspberry flavor, considering the bottle mentions raspberry 3 times when explaining the beer: once in the name, and then the description reads: "Ale brewed with raspberries with raspberries added".
Well Widmer Brothers, my question to you is "Where are the raspberries?"
My other problem with the beer is the lack of balance and teamwork between the flavors within the beer. Yeah it's great that these flavors are all there and you get to experience each (all of which I find pretty good). But what makes a good beer great is the brewer's ability to utilize all of the flavors within a beer and create a harmony, a nicely balanced flow of flavors. This beer falls a little short in this category.
Overall Rating: 3/5
The idea of Imperial Stouts and light, sweet, or delicate fruit almost always intrigues me, but also almost always dissapoints me. Hoping Widmer Brothers will be different in the second regard.
Pours black, like most imperial stouts, with a thin lacing of slightly darker than khaki head. Off the head I get a strong malt smell that can be associated to the imperial stout brewing style, but also a bit of dark chocolate and raspberry. A little sweet caramel in there as well. On the first sip you get a very nice malty imperial stout hit, some strong chocolate in there as well. A little bit of subtle raspberry, maybe just a little less strong than the chocolate, both of which take the back seat to a nice pure imperial stout flavor. The flavors kind of hit in that order as well - stout, then chocolate, then raspberry. It seems to me that there's a bit of coffee and caramel as well, but nothing more than a minor hint of either. Bit of a hoppy aftertaste, maybe a little stronger than I'm used to in imperials. Traces of alcohol, makes sense at 9.3% ABV, though other IS's around the same ABV do a better job of hiding it.
Not a bad beer. I was expecting a stronger showing from the raspberry flavor, considering the bottle mentions raspberry 3 times when explaining the beer: once in the name, and then the description reads: "Ale brewed with raspberries with raspberries added".
Well Widmer Brothers, my question to you is "Where are the raspberries?"
My other problem with the beer is the lack of balance and teamwork between the flavors within the beer. Yeah it's great that these flavors are all there and you get to experience each (all of which I find pretty good). But what makes a good beer great is the brewer's ability to utilize all of the flavors within a beer and create a harmony, a nicely balanced flow of flavors. This beer falls a little short in this category.
Overall Rating: 3/5
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